4 Reluctant Entertainers Giveaway

It's been a while since I've posted about a giveaway but this one is simply too much fun, especially considering what I'm planning over the next month. Sandy at 4 Reluctant Entertainers is hosting the giveaway for "The Briefcase" bbq from Teak and Wicker and More.

How cute is that??? You can pack it up and take it with you everywhere you go. It has some fun features, too:

Folds to a convenient briefcase size
Comes with a handy spatula and fork that clip to the inside of the lid for easy storage
3-position adjustable chrome plated cooking grid with removable handles
Charcoal fueled
Baked enamel finish
Fold away warming rack

Teak Wicker and More sells everything from garden accessories to patio furniture. For someone who is in the process of "fixing up" her backyard due to having to rip it all apart last summer, this is a website-come-true for me. I'm off to shop, dream and plan.

You, in the meantime, head over to Sandy's and see about entering for that giveaway. If you win, let me know! I'd love to do a happy dance for you. I won't argue if you hope I win - I'd love to give this one to my husband for his birthday.

Blessings!

Trafficking Site

I don't usually do this but if you are here today, take a moment to go to my other blog, Fight 4 Freedom and read today's update on trafficking. It has rocked me to my core - I grew up in New Jersey. I know the places this man forced his captives to work. I have friends in New Jersey with young daughters and to think how easily they could be swept up into something like this. The same thoughts cross my mind every time I look at my nieces.

It reminds me why I do what I do, why I am trying to learn everything I can, trying to work in any way possible to end this evil. We cannot rest, we cannot stop drawing attention to the horror of human trafficking until men like Allen Brown have no opportunity to do what they do. They feed off of fear and violence and use women and children to feed their greed.

They need to be stopped. I hope you can take a few minutes to read the story, click the link and read the Attorney General's indictment. Sit and meditate on the fact that this is happening here. In the United States and not only in New Jersey. Think of your daughter, her friends or the daughters of your friends. The smartest, savviest of women and children are still kidnapped, drugged, taken into this world in some of the most incredible ways I've ever heard. Just when you think you have figured out a way to keep something from happening - they come up with a new way to get around your safeguards.

We can't rest until the price traffickers pay is so high, the price their clients (johns) pay is too high (we need to start shaming them in any and every way possible) and the people they traffic have a safe, secure place to go for healing. We simply can't rest.

It starts with how we speak. Enough saying something is "pimped out." Enough saying a woman is a prostitute. Pimping is not glamourous and a woman (or child) is prostituted. Pimps get their money by forcing others to work for them in degrading and dangerous ways. They force their victims through violence and drug addictions - often addictions they perpetuated so they could control their women. As for those who are prostituted - find me one who aspires to walk those streets. They don't want to be out there - they feel they don't have a choice. As someone who looked that choice in the face, I can imagine getting to that point. Every day I thank God I had other options (and a HUGE dose of fear to actually step into that world) but every day there are women and children who don't feel they have those options or are forced into it.

Ever day.

Ahhhhhh....

Well, I didn't exactly trust it yesterday but since today is an almost exact replica, I think I'm going to risk it and say our normal Pacific Northwest Summer has returned. Cloudy, upper 50's to mid-60's in the morning; sunny and mid-70's by late afternoon.

As a friend of mine said recently - for those of you who were praying for sun, thank you for turning down those prayers a bit.

It was 107 last Wednesday and we were all pretty sure we were going to melt. Or spontaneously combust. It was too hot and before all of you who live with those temps talk about how wimpy we were - remember how many places you go have air conditioning. That's the norm in places that are regularly hot. Most places here are the opposite. We rely on our marine air - beautiful breezes and thick clouds to cool us off. Not electric air.

It was a tough couple of weeks.

I'm grateful for days or relief (temperatures begin to climb again in another week), for being at a particular hardware store at just the right time (we now own a portable air conditioner - I'm just too old and too whiny to suffer through THAT again) and for all the different people I was able to meet and talk to (people actually do like to chat more when life throws a curve ball...not so wrapped up in their own routine) as we suffered together. Most of all I'm grateful for what didn't happen - no heat exhaustion or heat stroke for anyone I know or our animals. No overheating cars. No broken air conditioner at work. Those places who opened or stayed open later because they had air and could offer a safe place for people who couldn't stand the heat... the list could go on.

God is good. All the time. All the time. God is good.

Even in record heat.

Mermaid or Whale?

I don't know if it's true or not (I haven't had a chance to check Snopes yet) but even if it isn't...what a great note! Enjoy.

Recently, in large French city, a poster featuring a young, thin and tan woman appeared in the window of a gym. It said:

¨THIS SUMMER DO YOU WANT TO BE A MERMAID OR A WHALE?¨

A middle aged woman, whose physical characteristics did not match those of the woman on the poster, responded publicly to the question posed by the gym.

To Whom It May Concern:

Whales are always surrounded by friends (dolphins, sea lions, curious humans).. They have an active sex life, they get pregnant and have adorable baby whales. They have a wonderful time with dolphins stuffing themselves with shrimp. They play and swim in the seas, seeing wonderful places like Patagonia, the Barren Sea and the coral reefs of Polynesia. Whales are wonderful singers and have even recorded CDs. They are incredible creatures and virtually have no predators other than humans. They are loved, protected and admired by almost everyone in the world.

Mermaids don’t exist. If they did exist, they would be lining up outside the offices of Argentinean psychoanalysts due to identity crisis. Fish or human? They don’t have a sex life because they kill men who get close to them not to mention how could they have sex? Therefore they don’t have kids either. Not to mention who wants to get close to a girl who smells like a fish store?

The choice is perfectly clear to me; I want to be a whale.

P.S. We are in an age when media puts into our heads the idea that only skinny people are beautiful, but I prefer to enjoy an ice cream with my kids, a good dinner with a man who makes me shiver and a coffee with my friends. With time we gain weight because we accumulate so much information and wisdom in our heads that when there is no more room it distributes out to the rest of our bodies. So we aren’t heavy, we are enormously cultured, educated and happy.

Beginning today, when I look at my butt in the mirror I will think, ¨Mercy! look how smart I am…¨

Worth the Read!

First I say I'm about to give up on my blog and then I read this post.

Oh Yes, Jesus Loves Me

A very powerful read. I had to share it. It is always such a pleasure to read something from one of the Moore women. Beth Moore is a gifted teacher. She and Keith have been blessed with two very gifted daughters. Melissa wrote the above post. So wonderfully written, so beautifully said...

Enjoy.

My 7th Grade Journal

My blog is starting to take on the feel of my 7th grade journal. That year, my reading teacher required that we keep a journal. It had to be brought to class every day and we would start class by writing in it for 15 minutes. It didn't have to be fancy or deep but it couldn't be a diary. It couldn't be "yesterday I did..." unless that was a very brief sentence and the remaining time was spent writing about how that made us feel.

The blog, though, used to be an outlet for me. A place to chronicle what was happening in our lives and to vent my opinions about things. Lately, though, I have felt a severe lack of interest. It's been almost palpable. Even reading my favorites has started to lose some of its glow.

Blogs are amazing sources of information. I have gleaned so much from reading them in the last year. I've also been able to share my heart on more than one occasion but lately? Lately this feels like a choore.

So... I believe this blog is going to become a bit of a ghost town, so to speak. My prayer is that I focus on my human trafficking blog and this one... well... I may come here from time to time to record some little tidbit but I don't see my taking the time to really focus on it too much. I wanted to, it was my plan originally and even up to a month ago I thought I would be more directed in my writing but... that hasn't happened and I'm not going to fight it.

This isn't farewell just... a semi-hibernation (is there such a thing?).

Blessings.

Hello America,

Here it is, another Fourth of July. Traditionally, this is a day to gather with friends, maybe fire up the barbeque and play with kids until the sun sets and the fireworks start. But in thinking back on the meaning behind this day, we must never forget that our nation was baptized in the blaze of a very different kind of "fireworks."

Yes, this is a day of rest and relaxation, as well it should be, but this year…I'd like to ask you a favor. At some point during the day, I hope you'll take time to think and reflect on what it is we're truly celebrating on the 4th of July -- our Independence Day.

Of course the Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4th, 1776 but it's so much more than that. On this day, 233 short years ago, a small group of men dedicated themselves to a higher purpose, an ideal they believed in so greatly, they signed their name to its expression and in doing so put their very lives at risk.

Never has a simple act of signing one's name carried such weight, such a profound commitment. By signing the Declaration of Independence, 56 men stood in direct defiance of the British government. They became marked men, and willingly so.

As I was doing some research on the significance of July 4th, I came across some interesting facts about these men. Today as we all enjoy the freedom our forefathers guaranteed us, join me in honoring the extraordinary sacrifice of 56 extraordinary Americans.

Of the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence:

Five were captured by the British as traitors, and tortured before they died. Twelve had their homes burned to the ground. Two lost sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, and two more had sons captured. Nine fought and died in the Revolutionary War.

If you ever feel like your lone voice can never be heard, that the political system isn't set up for "regular" Americans to change the course of history, remember: The signers were flesh and blood, mortal men with a divinely-inspired aim.

Twenty-four were lawyers and jurists, eleven were merchants, and nine were farmers and large plantation owners. They were well educated, smart enough to know that by signing the Declaration of Independence, they were signing their own death warrants. They did it anyway, and God bless them for it.

As we enjoy our liberty on this 4th of July, or any day of any month, we must never take that liberty for granted. Too many have given too much. In the words of the Signers themselves, "For the support of this declaration, with firm reliance on the protection of the divine providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor."

Their lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor -- I think that's a price paid worth a few minutes of reflection, don't you? But let's not be solemn in that reflection. I say rejoice and share this information with your friends and family, especially your kids.

The Signers asked for nothing in return for their pledge, but I say that we show our thanks with a pledge of our own: To remember, to be grateful, and to carry on in their spirit. America is the greatest country this world has ever and will ever know, and it will stay that way so long as "we the people" remember that just like in 1776. It's US that surrounds them, and we'll never back down.

Happy Independence Day, and God bless America.

Glenn Beck{from Glenn Beck's email newsletter, 7/3/2009}