I just got this forward. Its cool!

Meaning of  Flag Draped Coffin

All  Americans should be given this lesson.  Those who think that America is an arrogant nation should really reconsider that thought.  Our founding fathers used GOD's word and teachings to establish our Great Nation and I think it's high time Americans get re-educated about this Nation's history.
Pass it along and be proud of the country we live in and even more proud of those who serve to protect  our 'GOD GIVEN' rights and freedoms.

I  hope you take the time to read this ... To understand what the flag draped coffin really means ... Here is how to understand the flag that  laid upon it and is surrendered to so many widows and  widowers.

Do you know that at military funerals, the 21-gun  salute stands for the sum of the numbers in the  year 1776?


Have you ever noticed the honor guard pays meticulous attention to correctly folding the United States of America Flag 13 times?  You  probably thought it was to symbolize the original 13 colonies, but we  learn something new every day!

The 1st fold of the flag is a symbol of life.

The 2nd fold is a symbol of the belief in eternal life.

The 3rd fold is made in honor and remembrance of the veterans departing the ranks who gave a portion of their lives for the defense of the country to attain peace throughout the world.


The 4th fold represents the weaker nature, for as American citizens trusting in God, it is to Him we turn in times of peace as well as in time of war for His divine  guidance.


The 5th fold is a tribute to the country, for in the words of Stephen Decatur, 'Our Country, in dealing with other countries, may she always be right; but it is still  our country, right or wrong.'


The 6th fold is for where people's hearts lie.  It is with their heart that they pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States Of America , and the Republic for which it stands, one Nation  under God, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.

The 7th fold is a tribute to its Armed Forces, for it is through the Armed Forces that they protect  their country and their flag against all her enemies, whether they be found within or without the boundaries of their republic.


The 8th fold is a tribute to the one who entered into the valley of the shadow of death, that we might see the light of day.



The 9th fold is a tribute to womanhood, and Mothers.  For it has been through their faith, their love, loyalty and devotion that the character of the men and women who have made this country great has been  molded.

The 10th fold is a tribute to the father, for he, too, has given his sons  and daughters for the defense of their country since they were first  born.



The 11th fold represents the lower portion of the seal of King  David and King Solomon and glorifies in the Hebrews eyes, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.



The 12th fold represents an emblem of eternity and glorifies, in the  Christians eyes, God the Father, the Son  and Holy  Spirit.

The 13th fold, or when the flag is completely folded, the stars are uppermost reminding them of their nations motto, 'In God We Trust.'



After the flag is completely folded and tucked in, it takes on the appearance of a cocked hat, ever reminding us of the soldiers who served under General George Washington, and the Sailors and Marines who served under Captain John Paul Jones, who were followed by their comrades and shipmates in the Armed Forces of the United States, preserving for them the rights, privileges and freedoms they enjoy  today.

There are some traditions and ways of doing things that have deep meaning.

In the future, you'll see flags folded and now you will know why.

Share  this with the children you love and all others who love what is referred to, the symbol of ' Liberty and Freedom.'


MAYBE  THE SUPREME COURT SHOULD READ THIS EXPLANATION BEFORE THEY RENDER THEIR  DECISION ON THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE.   FORWARD  IT; MAYBE SOMEONE WITH THE NECESSARY POWER, OR POLITICAL AND FINANCIAL INFLUENCE, WILL GET IT TO THEM.

IN  THE MEANTIME, MAY GOD PROTECT US ALWAYS.

ONE  NATION, UNDER GOD, WITH LIBERTY AND  JUSTICE FOR ALL.





Really neat huh?!?!

"Raindrops keep falling on my head."

I wont be doing todays exactly right. For safety reasons we don't put pictures of ourselves on the internet. So I just decided to post a picture that I had taken.

Lys and I used to take pictures by subject just for fun and practice (we want to start doing that again soon) and one of the subjects was water... We had LOADS of fun with this... of course by the end of the week Daddy was coming in the room I was in taking pictures in going, "Don't you have enough pictures yet? Our water bill is going to go through the roof". Or Mom started fussing that I didn't have to take pictures "everytime I washed dishes..." I couldn't help myself... it was addicting!

Riah

Day Nine!

Ok, so this one should be rather easy. I've taken a million pictures... of course, I took them with a little 6.0 Megapixal "point-n-shoot" digital camera, but hey... whatever.

This is one a took a few years ago (before my camera started going crazy). I do like this one, because it was the first time I had taken a sucessful flower picture without the flash on. You know how flashes are horrible? Yeah, well, try taking a "un-blurry" picture with a "point-n-shoot" without using a flash... Yeah, and you cant use a tripod to steady it either. Just hold it in your hands... do nothing else. Didn't think so... So this is totally a favorite of mine! I was thrilled with how it came out. (BTW: its not photoshopped, or gimp-ed or anything like that... I just sharpened it using a plain ol' windows picture program... ok you can laugh now)

Riah

How? When? What? Ummm...

Riah and I have joined the dark side.
We used to have this big thing where we would be independent photographers who would travel and then get married 5 or so years down the way...
Now...
Now...
NOW we are sitting here looking at wedding dresses and getting all sappy from a love story from a book.
What happened?
How?
When?
What?
ummmm.....
I guess we joined Bee and Kay after all.
lol - It's just surprising to hear ourselves now.
Help...

I just finished...

...reading "The Convenient Groom" by Denise Hunter. Sigh. I've turned into a romantic.
The book was sooooo good! I recommend it to everyone who enjoys a good love story. I'm going to read it again.
I'm off now to day dream a bit. Maybe pick up another love story. Or work on writing some.
Dreamily,

Time goes fast!

So, as you saw in Riah's "Thank You" post, we are very close friends. She mentioned that first phone call when we were 14 and now I'm going to go into a little more detail. :)

From my side of the story:
My family and I had been going to this church for 10 years. My parents felt like God was saying it was time to move on. So we did. The whole thing blew up in our faces. People creating rumors about Bee and me - accusations and finger pointing's. It was a mess. Needless to say that almost every single one of my friends from there walked away. Only one really tried to keep up communication (which was great). So, it had been a couple of weeks since we had left and I was feeling pretty blue. I had no one to call, or hang out with. Bee was busy doing school and I just wanted to talk to someone!
"Hey Mama?" I called.
"Yeah?"
"What is Ri's phone number?"
"I don't know off the top of my head. Why?"
"I want to call her. There's no one else to talk to" (I didn't mean it in a mean way - just was feeling down. Sad. Bummed.)
Mom gave me her address book and I flipped through the book until I found the number I was looking for. I dialed the number and listened to the slow ringing. Ri's mom answered.
"May I speak to Riah please?" I asked nicely.
"Who is calling?"
"Lys."
"Oh hi! I'll get her." There was some rustling sounds and then I heard Ri.
"Hello?" She sounded perplexed.
"Hi - How are you?"
And so the conversation went. It was awkward. We hadn't talked in so long. Yeah, there was the letter writing, and then the emails, but those were rare. After all, we did have the friends that were near by up until this point...
We had some moments where we didn't say a thing. It was just dead silence over the phone. I was wondering if Ri was thinking I was dumb for calling. when we got off the phone I thought that maybe we wouldn't talk again for a while, but she called me the next day. We talked more than we did before and opened up. She told me about how she left her church and was "shunned" just like I was. That was the bonding point. The same trouble and hurt was really what made us because BFF's again!
Now you see that we talk everyday. We actually had a rule put in place by Ri's mom at one point, that we could only talk between 3-4:30 in the afternoon everyday because we talked in every spare second of the day. Now we just talk when we can.
Riah is the best friend anyone can ask for, and when she and Superman are married I'm going to force him to bring her to visit me all the time. hehee.
Thank YOU, Riah for being there and letting me vent, and cry, and laugh with you no matter what time it is.
Much Love,

Thank you!

“A friend is the one who comes in when the whole world has gone out.” ~ Grace Pulpit

I can’t think of a more appropriate quote for me and Lys. Our new-ish, closer relationship is based off of circumstances that mirror this quote exactly. All of our friends had deserted us and that’s when we became so much closer. It’s a long and involved story so I’m not going to bother telling you all about it right now, but you have to hear this part to understand what we are to each other.
We both grew apart due to circumstances, many (not all) beyond our control. We didn’t talk much at all, nor did we see each other often. In fact, I think sometimes we forgot the other existed. Sure, if you asked we could tell you we were friends, but we didn’t really know all that much about each other. We both had some church problems when we were 14 and we both left our churches in June/July of that year (or somewhere around that time). The problems were of such a nature that we were “shunned” from the friends we had and were not allowed to talk to them (not our parents decision, that was their parents).
One day I was feeling kind of lonely. I had tried to call a friend, but her mother wouldn’t let me talk to her and informed Mom that they could have nothing more to do with us. I went outside to read, but couldn’t focus (I can hear some of you gasping in utter disbelief now). Out of the blue, Mom poked her head out the back door and said I had a phone call. I bet you can imagine how thrilled I was. I thought that my friend’s mother had a change of heart. Guess how shocked I was to find out it was Lys? It was so weird. But I was just happy to have someone to talk to. We didn’t talk all that much during that call, but then she called back the next day and I called her the day after that. Eventually we ended up telling each other what had gone down at our churches, just to find that nearly the same thing had happened to both of us. We ended up crying together, comforting each other and laughing over how silly we were being; crying over people who had left us when things came to a head.

Needless to say, my thank you letter is to you Lys. Thanks for making that first call! Even though it meant that we talked so much it drove my parents crazy. Thanks for letting me call you at nearly midnight so I could tell you that Superman wanted to court me!
   (Lys looks better than this believe me!)






Thank you for letting me call you crying! For helping me when Grandpa died. Thank you for letting me vent when I’m angry! Thank you for yelling at computers with me…
  (we have the exact same kind of laptop)







Thank you for being the only person who’ll IM me, talk on the phone with me AND email me all at the same time.

And that’s a lot!








And thank you for being the bestest friend ever!



















(I get to be Tigger in this picture… oh quit giving me that sad face Lys… ok fine, you can be Tigger!)

Proud to be Lyssa’s best friend!
Riah Friah Me Oh Miah