Day 1 (or 1.5?): London.

Friday, April 18, we packed up the car and drove up to Canada to pick up my grandma and then go to the Vancouver Airport where our flight to London was taking off. (Wow, what a cool airport. The international section has a fish tank and a "river" in it!)

Our plane:

On the long, ten hour flight, I mostly slept. But I did sample the wide variety of movies and TV shows (they had Sherlock season 3. Isn't that crazy?) the airplane supplied for free... I watched Frozen! What a gorgeous movie. I did, however, think that it had a lot of unused potential plot and character wise.
Amazingly, I woke up right as we were passing over the final corner of Greenland! I grabbed my camera and snapped a few pictures of the ice. How beautiful!

It doesn't look green to me...

We landed 2:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, London time, which, for us, was about 5 AM. But you don't want to waste an entire afternoon sleeping, so, after checking into our hotel, St. David's, my mom and dad and I went to hit a few shops.
First on our list was... THE TINTIN SHOP!!!!!!! =D On Floral Street. This is one of the major reasons we made this side trip to London.
If you ever go to London, and are a fan of Tintin, GO HERE! It's a teeny tiny little shop, about the size of two hallways side by side. It's got tons of Tintin books and merchandise everywhere. Behind the counter hang Tintin t-shirts and in the counter's glass display case, there are ton of miniatures from the books. Mostly cars and XFLR-6's. The whole time we were in there it was packed.

 (Me, my dad, and Tintin. Am I short, or is he just tall? Either way, Tintin's the smallest.)

After the Tintin shop, we walked through the packed streets to Forbidden Planet, which is a huge sci-fi/fantasy store (with a basement full of sci-fi/fantasy books!). 

Along the way we saw many beautiful buildings (I think the architecture of London is going to have to be a separate post). We also saw some picture-worthy sights...

 

This is a street in Covent Garden where seven roads converge. In the middle of the circular area is this monument, unveiled by Queen Beatrix (who abdicated her throne to her son last year) of the Netherlands!

We also found a cool stature honoring Agatha Christie:

And we saw the funniest - if you are a fan of the show Sherlock and/or Elementary - sign on the side of a car. (There are hardly any billboards in London - all the advertisements are either on the sides of cabs, buses, or in shop windows. Strangely, this was how it was over 100 years ago too! In the 1900's, 'omnibuses,' which were double-decker carriages pulled by horses, would have advertisements on their sides as well!)

Anyway, on the side of this van we saw this picture:

An advertisement for Elementary, America's modernized Sherlock Holmes, which says "believe in better." This is ironically funny because England was the first to have the idea of modernizing Sherlock Holmes (with their show "Sherlock") and when America announced their intention to do one as well, there was some tension, and a lot of uproar from the fans of Sherlock (myself included... though now I'm not really into either show).

Forbidden Planet was a pretty cool store. It had a huge window display with this epic statue of Sauron (not the Eye; the one who had his finger chopped off), an equally cool statue of Chewbacca, and a giant paper cutout of the Fourth Doctor, with a reproduction of the Fourth Doctor's scarf draped around it's thin neck. 

Inside was chaos. Lots of people looked here and there and dashing about. When you first walk in you are wowed by a huge glass case filled with figurines. The shop also boasted many t-shirts, a giant section of Doctor Who stuff, some pretty neat Star Trek and Lord of the Rings stuff, and merchandise from other fan bases as well. My mom wasn't too interested, so she sat and read her quilt magazine underneath a giant model of the Enterprise-D.

Downstairs, as I mentioned, there was a bookstore. I don't read a tremendous amount of modern fantasy and sci-fi, which is what they had a lot of, so we went pretty quick through that corner. Another section was devoted to comics and manga. They had a huge section for DVDs and an equally huge section dedicated to guides about certain TV shows and movies. I bought a Tolkien journal to take notes of our trip in.

Fun fact: 30 years ago, when my dad went traveling around Europe for a year, he had the same journal! Of course, they've given it a new cover, but the inside drawings are all the same!

Our final stop Friday night was Foyles Bookstore, one of the hugest bookstores in the world, I believe! (Though Powell's in Portland, Oregon could definitely rival it. Plus, Powell's has better prices. If London is too far away, go to Powell's! And give me a call. I'll meet you there and we can spend the day riffling through shelves and shelves and shelves and shelves [and shelves and shelves] of books and ignoring each other because of all the books!). 

I wanted to go to Foyles because, well, it's a giant bookstore! But also because I knew they would have The World of Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse (all his Jeeves and Wooster short stories, save one, in one volume). I could have ordered it from Half Price Books.com, and probably saved some money, but I thought it would be fun to buy a book in London! I ended up getting three (all Jeeves and Wooster, because they are harder to find in the USA... or, at least where I live. I'm determined to read the novels in the right order and our silly library system has the first one, but not the second! For another of Wodehouse's series, the library has the second book, but not the first! ARGH!)

 

 

Four stories of bookish bliss. Since it was getting late, however, and we wanted to turn in a bit early, we didn't stay too long, and soon meandered back to our hotel, after nabbing some dinner. 

Thus ended our first day in London!

P.S. I do believe this marks my 100th post with the tagline "books"! *confetti*

I'm still alive.

I have successfully survived to the next stage of editing.
We sent off for my trial copy today! Huzzah! Now I get a week break while I wait for the copy to arrive... And I'll use it to (hopefully) write my outline for NaNoWriMo, and get TONS of schoolwork done!

*** 

 

You know what I love? World War I. It's so fascinating.

Guess what?

Paul McCartney has a World War I music video! It's SUPER cool... It's about the Christmas Truce of 1914, when men from both sides got up out of the trenches and met in No Man's Land to play football, exchange chocolate, laugh, talk, and share pictures and letters from loved ones.

 

 

Live long and prosper!



Algona, Iowa.

On Tuesday, my grandparents, mother, and I took a road trip down to Algona, Iowa. Our premise for going was that my mother, who is a quilter and therefore follows lots of quilting blogs, won a pack of fabric and also a gift certificate to a restaurant where they house the largest cheeto in the world. While we were down there, though, we decided to go to a museum and the Algona Nativity Scene. Here I must sidetrack a bit, and tell the history that we learned at the museum, before I go on and tell you about the Nativity Scene and the restaurant.

Nearly everyone is taught about the World Wars. While studying World War One, one learns about the trenches, and mustard gas, and the United States entering near the end. While studying World War Two, one learns about Hitler, and the gas chambers, the Jews, and V-Day. One learns about the Pacific Theater, and the awful battles between America and Japan; one learns about the Japanese Internment camps (where the United States took all of the Japanese or Japanese-American people and shut them up in camps during WW2 [one of those that was interned, was George Takei, who played Sulu in Original Star Trek]); and one learns about the awful treatment that American soldiers received in German Prisoner of War camps.
What does one not learn about? The Prisoner of War camp (P.O.W. camps) in the United States.
In 1943, Europe's P.O.W. camps were overflowing with German prisoners (with other nationalities, such as Italian, mixed in) and Great Britain asked the United States to take some of the prisoners. The United States people weren't happy about it, but in the end, they did take in the Prisoners of War. Over 450,000 P.O.W.'s, during the course of 1944-1945, stayed in 700 camps scattered throughout the United States. Here is a map - every dot is a P.O.W. camp:

 

So what happens now? 450,000 German prisoners are now in America! Well, unlike American prisoners in Germany, these German prisoners were treated very well, in accordance with the Geneva Convention (which says that prisoners will be treated as well as the army that watches over them).

This is where the museum that we visited, and the Nativity Scene, come in.

In Algona, Iowa, they had a P.O.W. camp. Though the camp is no longer standing, and is now an airport, they have a museum with lots of articles and bios about German prisoners from the camp.

The Algona camp (and, indeed, mostly all of the other camps), prisoners could be hired out to local farmers, as farm hands. They would be paid in slips of paper, that they could spend at the Canteen - the store inside the P.O.W. camp.
In camp, prisoners had a variety of things that they could do.... They had arts and crafts, and sports. Many beautiful pieces of art came out of the camp, as well as poetry and journal entries, talking about every day life. Prisoners were allowed to send and receive letters (though they were looked over very closely by both America and Germany before being allowed to get back to family or sweethearts). In the Algona camp, they had an acting troupe, a choir, a newspaper (the P.O.W.-WOW) and a 15 piece orchestra. They say that idleness is the tool of the devil - these prisoners were anything but idle! They had a million things to do and were treated very well by all. Several of them became great friends with their farmer employers. There is one story about a farmer who had lost his son to the war, and started calling his German farm hand his son, because they were on such good terms. Later, after the war was over, and the prisoners were sent back to Germany, that prisoner came back to the farm with his family, and was reunited with his employer. There are many, many stories like that.
In 1946, the German prisoners were sent back to Germany, because the war was over. But many of them didn't want to go! Several escaped and lived in the United States, falling in love and creating a family, until found out by the government. Most of the time, the government would let them stay, if they would consent to going back to Germany for x amount of time first.
One man, his named was George, I think, was an amazing carver. While still a P.O.W., he carved something that took the fancy of one of the officers. The officer asked for it and George wondered why. "To show my grandchildren," replied the officer. George asked for five dollars (and not in slips of paper to spend at the canteen). The officer wondered why George would want five dollars. "To show my grandchildren," George replied. So they traded. George ended up selling two more carvings for $5 each. He had $15 and escaped to New Mexico. He met and fell in love with a woman. They married and had at least one child. But George was always looking over his shoulder, sure that someone would find out that we was here illegally. He didn't want to go back to Germany! He had experienced freedom - and had a beautiful family.
He had also started a bookstore, and was a flourishing businessman.
Well, one day, the officer who had bought George's carving for $5, walked into the bookstore, and recognized him. After that encounter, and after 40 years of living in the United States, George turned himself in. Our government made him go back to Germany for 6 months, but then said he could return and become a citizen. George did so. Eventually, though, he ended back up in Germany, and ran a successful bookstore there.

In 1944, one P.O.W., named Eduard Kaib, made a Nativity Scene. It was relatively small... something like six or eight inches per figure; but the officers were so impressed, that they asked for a bigger Nativity Scene for next year's Christmas. Eduard Kaib, and six other people (only one of whom has been identified) set to work, and by Christmas 1945, they had a huge Nativity Scene, where the figures were half life-size, to show to the people. And the people did come! Every year since 1945, at Christmastime (or, if you live more than 100 miles away, like us), Algona opens up the Nativity Scene to show to people.
It was quite amazing. There is over 35 sheep, over 20 figures, four camels, one angel, one cow, and one donkey. All of them are original, from 1945. To make them, Eduard Kaib poured cement over a wire and wood frame, to get the basic shape. Then he covered it with plaster, and painted it in what colors he supposed to be prominent back at the birth of Christ.

 

Blue lights added to the atmosphere. They played a recording of the history of the Nativity, and even had Kaib talking about it! He returned to Algona in the '60's to see his Nativity again.

 

Look at all those sheep!

 

I highly, highly, HIGHLY recommend these two museums (the Nativity Scene, and the P.O.W. Museum, in Algona, Iowa) which tell about a piece of lost history. It's really quite incredible. They are both run entirely by volunteer, by the Methodist's Men's Club. It will be a sad day when all of the old, Methodist gentleman, die and no one is left to take care of the museums. I hope that never happens, because this piece of history is an amazing story, and one not often told.

After these two museums, we went to Emeralds, a restaurant with the largest cheeto. Their food was very, very good (though a tad bit expensive, maybe) and their restaurant was cool - nautical themed! They had model ships and portholes and diving suit helmets.
And, of course, the largest cheeto in the world:

 

(That's my mom with the cheeto.)
Here's a picture of it that I found online, compared to a regular cheeto and a quarter.

 

So there was our day on Tuesday! It was a great trip.

Live long and prosper! And go visit those museums!

Daniel Adams and Varina Webb.

Alright, I lied. No prologue for Defenders of the Realm today. Perhaps tomorrow.

Instead, I am going to explain some of my characters names.
Daniel Adams and Varina Webb are my main characters from my 2012 NaNoWriMo novel You Don't Find Them, They Find You which is a spy novel, of sorts. Both Daniel and Varina are spies... Though the novel is more of a race.

A little bit of history on the name "Daniel" in correlation to me.
When I was little, my friend and I would play house with our Bitty Babies. We were the moms, our husbands were invisible, our children were our dolls. For awhile, my friend and I had Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby as husbands.... Then we branched out and used other names. I always had James, until my friend and I started to fight over that name. Then I changed mine to Daniel and she changed hers to Dwight. From then on, our "husbands" were always Daniel and Dwight.

So, when I came up with the idea for They Find You there was really no other name for the main male character.
Daniel's last name, Adams, has always been with him too.
Which presented a problem....

In our games of house, my name was always "Arica Adams."
Now, for my female main character, I natually named her Arica because that's a name I'm very familiar with. But I couldn't name her Arica "Adams" because she and Daniel couldn't have the same last name.
Trouble trouble trouble... At first I wanted to change Daniel's last name because I wasn't sure if "Adams" was a British last name. Then I decided to change Arica's last name... I didn't know what to change it TO, though.
Then one day I was lying on the couch watching this GREAT old cop show called Adam-12 and the name hit me.

 

The guy on the right is called Jim Reed in the show. I got to thinking... Arica Reed? Then the name "Webb" flashed across the screen (he's one  of the producers or something). That was it! WEBB! Arica Webb!

Then we departed on our long journey to the East Coast.
We saw many many things. One of those things was the home of President Jefferson Davis (he was president of the Confederacy during the Civil War).

 

Before we got the tour, however, the guide told us a bit about Jefferson Davis and his family. They mentioned his wife... Varina Davis.

My heart leaped a bit. Varina was the absolute perfect name.
I was so excited that I pulled out a scrap of paper and wrote it down. It says, "Instead of Arica Webb... Varina Webb?"
Thus was born Varina Webb.
She even looks a bit like Varina Davis - the same dark, silky hair and round face.

I think that Varina is one of the prettiest names in the whole wide world. And Webb is one cool last name.

How do you name your characters?

Live long and prosper!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Independence Day everyone!

Take a moment to contemplate how much freedom has been won for us. But never forget that freedom is NEVER free.

Freedom is not Free

By Abbey

6/28/12

(Written for the ceremony where I received my dog tags.)

If there is one thing that I have learned in the history class I just completed, it is that freedom is NEVER free. Whether it be a free sample of food or the freedom of a nation, someone is always paying the price.

In an age where we rely on our government to supply our every need and want, I have to ask, what is wrong with us?

Our Founding Fathers fought and died for the freedoms we enjoy today. They shut themselves up in a hot room during the summer months to bring us our Constitution.

The Civil War was a war fought about freedom.

During World War 1, men were "privileged to spend their blood for the principles that gave the United States of America birth and happiness," as President Woodrow Wilson said.

If we had not joined World War 2, who knows what foreign occupation we would be under now.

Thomas Paine said, "If there must be trouble, let it be in my day, that my child may have peace."

So much blood was spilled to bring us so much freedom. Why, then, do we not show our gratitude?

I recently returned from a long historical trip with my mother. We went to such places as Boston; Philadelphia, the birthplace of America; and Washington DC.

Over and over again in these places I witnessed children disrespecting the very places where our freedom was won.

They did care that they were standing in the very room where the Declaration of Independence AND Constitution were signed. They did not care they were holding the exact handrail George Washington did as he ascended to his bed every night. They did not care to learn the history of our nation and the Constitution which has made us who we are.

Is this the future our Founding Fathers intended for us? A nation of people who don't care about anything important, just so long as the government is taking care of them?

What happened to, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country."

What happened to, "We the people."

Our freedoms are slipping away. If we want a change, we must make it ourselves, not rely on others to do it. I am willing to die for my freedom if it comes down to it. What are YOU willing to do?

My debt of honor is to educate myself and others of that very point: that freedom is never free.

It's not the best thing ever written, but I didn't have much time to edit it as I wrote it about an hour before the ceremony!

But it nicely fits my thoughts together in a coherent way.

Right now my family and I are watching live footage from Washington DC where they are having a big 4th of July celebration. And we're watching it on our new TV! Our old one had something wrong with it and had annoying lines on the top of the screen... So now we have a new TV. And we bought a blu-ray player so I can FINALLY watch the Tintin DVD special features!!!! =D

To quote my mother, "I feel like such a loser.... Everyone else is at the store to shop for 4th of July BBQ supplies... We're here to buy BBQ supplies, but not for a party."

So yes, we are not attending any big parties. We probably won't even see any fireworks. O.o Unless we climb on the roof.

Is it strange that I can remember EXACTLY what I was doing last year on 4th of July? My mom and I were visiting my grandparents. They were at a party while Mom and I stayed at their house and watched StarGate SG-1. If you think I have a good memory now, just wait for what I tell you next. I can remember which episode we were watching!! People, it's a 10 season show! I remember the most random and strange things. I can remember these two guy's Bdays from my church because I saw their Bdays mentioned in the bulletin once a long time ago.

Anyway, not the point. The point is that I was watching the SG-1 episode where Sha're's son was visiting and Daniel Jackson has this whole elaborate vision of himself taking over the world.

I also remember pausing this particular episode to look outside and catch a glimpse of fireworks.
I wonder if I will remember this particular 4th of July? Probably, because I'm blogging about it. :P

Anyway... I don't really have anything else to say, except HAPPY 4th OF JULY! =D





Philly

We spent yesterday afternoon and today scurrying all over Philadelphia.
Before I tell you about that, though, I want to mention that you can associate anything with a book (or song):

Can you guess which books I'm thinking about? =)

As I said before, we went to The Constitution Center. It was very cool! It is a round museum with one or two side rooms (plus the theater). On the whole outer wall of the circle, was The Constitution in glass. Pictures were not allowed.
We saw an exhibit on how to become an American citizen and I was reminded of when my dad became an American (he was a Canadian citizen). Now I am wondering about dual citizenship for myself... I thought there you had to be _____ years old or younger to qualify for a dual citizenship, but I do not know. That will be something to look into.

My favorite part of the Constitution Museum was the Signing Room. It was filled with life-sized statues of all the signers of the Constitution (plus the three men who didn't sign). It was so cool! Luckily, pictures were allowed. I took a video:

The man (Elbridge Gerry) got his wish.
"'Cause I'm happy just to dance with you..... Abbey."

Tintin was having fun with the statues as well.....

George Washington doesn't look too happy. Ben Franklin is like, "Take him back! Please!"

More pictures:

(me in between James Madison and George Washington. Notice the height difference between the two presidents? Then there's short, little me....)

(Nathanial Gorham. Why is he so important? Go read The Freedom Factor, which I mentioned in the blog post before this one)

(Alexander Hamilton)

 

(George Washington)

(Ben Franklin among other men)

(the backs of the men).

Isn't that SOOOO cool??! I could have spent hours just staring at all the statues... They were so life like! They were all their "proper" height (at least, the closest the builders could get, since there aren't records for some of the men). The faces were based off of portraits of the men.

After the Constitution Center, we went back to our hotel because I was utterly exhausted from my migraine and from only eating a sandwhich all day.

I have this really annoying mosquito bite on my second toe....

It itches SO. BAD! And it's so red! I don't think I've ever seen such a red - not to mention large - bug bite... Especially on my toe! I haven't even been itching it. I hope it goes away.

Today we got up early so we could get in line for free tickets to see Independence Hall.
These guys were waiting in front of our hotel:

Baby Canadian geese with Mommy and Daddy watching over protectively.

We got on the earliest Independence Hall tour - 9:00 - and were able to beat the school kids!
It was incredible to be in the birthplace of America. Both the Declaration of Independence, and the Constitution were signed in this hall. The Founding Fathers debated for weeks in this hall, during the summer months, with no air circulation. They didn't want any reporters around, so they sealed the windows shut. It must have been hot. And loud. When you get delegates from 13 very different areas together in one room, there are bound to be arguments, and there were.
Here are some pictures of the hall:

See the chair in the middle of the last picture? That's George Washington's chair (the real chair is actually being cleaned/repaired right now so this one is a replica. Washington's real chair will be put back in this room during the summer months. All the other furniture in the room is from the 1700's.)

Benjamin Franklin questioned whether the sun was rising or setting on our new nation. After the Constitution was finished, he concluded that it was a rising sun.

Here is the ink stand that held the quills that signed both the Declaration of Independence and The Constitution:

We wandered around for awhile through more historic buildings (including the old congress building) and then headed over to the Liberty Bell.
We found this awaiting us:

We FINALLY got to see the bell after 45 minutes of waiting:

The bell was ordered from England but when it was unpackaged, it was cracked. So it was melted down and re-shaped twice. It rang for 90 years in the steeple of Independence Hall and then it cracked for seemingly no reason at all. It has toured the 'States numerous times and yes, it was in the movie National Treasure!

We walked to Elfreth's Alley. It is a preserved street from the 1700's, virtually unchanged since then (although I'm sure the paint jobs are more recent!). People actually live in the apartments (they sell for about 500,000).

Grama said that these little mirrors were there so the women could sit upstairs and look out to see who was at the front door. Grama says they were called "busybodies."

After the Alley, we walked through Betsy Ross's house.
Look, there she is!

Here is the front of her house:

And of course you can't go to Philly without getting a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwhich! It was good.

Traffic going out of Philadelphia was horrid due to the fact that Mrs. Obama was in town! She was in the Constitution Center. We saw many well-dressed Obama supporters around, waiting to see the First Lady. We did not get a glimpse of her, however.
I can now say that I've been in the same state as both the president and first lady, though!

Now we are switching gears from Revolutionary War to Civil War. We're going to Gettysburg tomorrow. I can't wait! I find the Civil War time period fascinating and I can't wait to learn even more about it.
Enjoy your week. =)

We The People

We went to the National Constitutional Center today. Since I had a migraine this morning, we spent the afternoon in this amazing museum. We were thinking about going tomorrow, so we could have a day of rest... But then we found out that First Lady Obama is going to be at the museum tomorrow so it will be closed to the public!
The museum is dedicated to The Constitution. It was amazing.
By age 14, I had read (and understood) The Constitution (and Amendments) twice. It made me VERY sad to see the school groups rushing, pushing, and being generally rude, in this museum. They should have more respect for the document that made our country. They should have more respect in general! In the museum, there were a number of booths where you could pick three issues (such as abortion, gay marriage, guns, education, health care, national policy, etc.) and then the computer would ask you 9 questions about the issues. Depending on your answers, they would tell you which Presidential candidate would fit your beliefs better (I got Romney). Believing that only school kids were in the booths, they were papers on us, opening to curtains to look for friends, and even leaning on us! (at least until my mom said, "EXCUSE ME!" loud enough for them to hear.
After that group rushed through, another group of school kids came through. This group was Jewish and more respectful. Still, it makes me mad that kids (they weren't even kids, they were teens!) are so disrespectful. Why even take huge groups into museums if they aren't going to learn anything? We've already missed out on the Holocaust Museum in DC because it's completely booked up until June 21.

The first thing we did in the Constitution Museum was watch a 30 minute presentation on the importance of The Constitution.
The Constitution is the first government system like it. Instead of having one sovereign leader (like a king or tsar), our government has three branches that have equal power. Over all, we, the people, are the ones that govern ourselves. We vote for our leaders. Do you know how much power that holds? We can VOTE in our leaders. It is up to US to pick a good leader who will uphold The Constitution. It is up to US to vote in a leader who will let us keep the rights specified in The Bill of Rights (aka, the first 10 amendments - I know some of my readers are Canadian). It is up to US not to vote in a bum.
We the people.
Those worlds hold so much power. So much freedom.
There are checks and balances in The Constitution which keep it running smoothly. There are people who want to take those checks and balances out. Are we going to let them? If The Constitution is changed, this nation will fall apart. I strongly believe that the Founding Fathers knew what they were doing when they made this document. They spent so long making it fair and giving the power to the people - not the government. They were cooped up in a building with all the windows and doors closed in the dead of summer, debating issues of importance just to make this document.
Today, all their hard work could be destroyed in a flash.
Don't believe me? Read The Freedom Factor by Gerald N. Lund.
Today's society says that nothing really matters. The more the government does for you, the less you have to do. Therefore, you can be lazy and do whatever you want because the government will take care of you.
That is not right. One, being lazy accomplishes nothing. People like being lazy, but does it really sustain you? You just become fat and boring. We need to work. I know that when I don't do schoolwork and spend the day on the computer, I feel like I've done a crime. I feel worthless, like I can't function in society.
Two, when the government takes care of all your wants, isn't that called communism? Do we want to be a communist country? Do we really want our rights taken away?
Right now the gay rights movement is pretty popular. Everyone thinks, "Oh yes, gay marriage is good because you should be able to marry someone you love, not matter what gender." Sure, that sounds pretty good. You love someone, marry them. But since we don't want to "offend" people, churchs are being told they can't speak against gay marriage from the pulpit. As a Christian, I believe that marriage is between a man and a woman. That's the way God made us, male and female, in his image. If God had wanted gay marriage, don't you think he would have made Adam and Steve? He made Adam and EVE! Only man and woman can create life together. It was not in God's plan to have man and man reproduce. Sin has spread through human life like the poison from a snake bite.
While the gays are receiving more and more rights, my rights as a Christian - to believe what I want and to express my opinion on it - and my rights as a homeschooler as being slowly squeezed to death.
Sadly, most Americans do not even realise this is happened. Why? Because they think that the government will take care of them. People are so wrapped up in the idea that everything is about "me" that they don't care what's going on in the greater world. As long as I'm happy, no one else matters. Who cares if people are being persecuted in the streets, I have everything I want so nothing else matters!
WRONG! God calls us to put everyone else's needs in front of our own. It's very hard to put others in front of us in our culture. I think that the only way you can truly live life for others, is to live your life completely for God. Once we give our lives fully over to God, it will be much easier to love and help others.
Somehow I have gotten completely off track. Or have I? Everything runs together. Everything in connected and interconnected.... It's so hard to keep everything straight sometimes.
"A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link."
Are you the weak link? Are you the one who relys on the government for everything? Well, let me tell you, that's not how the Founding Fathers intended it to be. They intended for us to have the power, not the government. We can provide for ourselves. We don't need other countries.
We need to start taking back our rights and we need to start fighting for The Constitution.
"How can I do that?"
I have a one word answer: Education.
If we educate ourselves, we can educate others. If enough people knew about the sort of things I wrote about above, if more people actually READ the Constitution and understood their rights, I full believe that we could become the greatest nation the world has ever seen.
All it takes is education. All it takes is taking the time to slow down and read your rights. Your rights may be taken away from you right under your noses, and you might not even notice.
"I'm too young...."
You are never too young. All of this is coming from a 15 year old, alright? I have read The Constitution twice! You can to.
Let me give you an example of The Constitution's being changed - don't get me wrong, the words are still there, but they are not being followed.
If I remember correctly, according to The Constitution, the president is Commander in Chief of the army, he can meet with foreign dignitaries and ambassadors, he can veto/sign bills, and one or two others things of the sort. He does NOT have the power to declare war (I think Congress has that power) but since World War 1, only the presidents have been declaring war. Every war since WW1, has been declared by the president.
Our presidents have been expanding their power in other ways as well.
That's kind of a scary thought. The Founding Fathers made three branches of government so one man wouldn't have all the power. They wanted equal power throughout the branches. In control would be the people.
Now, the president has more power than he's supposed to, and the government is more in charge of the people than vice versa.
It's pretty scary if you think about it.
I'm trying to prove a point to you. We need to fight for our rights. We need to fight for The Constitution. No matter what it takes, we need to fight for the rights that the soldiers died for in the Revolutionary War. We need to fight for the rights that were deliberated over by the Founding Fathers.
Freedom is never free. Nothing is ever free, except the blood of Christ to save us from our sins.
The government may take care of all our needs.... But at what price?

What are YOU willing to do to keep our Constitutional rights and freedoms in tact?

Valley Forge

As I mentioned last night, we went to Valley Forge yesterday. Valley Forge is set up that you can drive through the park and stop where you want to at various places.
Valley Forge was the place where George Washington and his troops weathered the winter of 1777-1778. It was very cold and the troops didn't have adequate housing. Many died of sickness. Continental Congress sat on their lazy bums and didn't send supplies to the troops.
George Washington offered $12 to anyone who could make a log hut first. The men (who were able to get out of bed) set to work building log cabins to house everyone.
They turned out something like this:

Next we drove past a memorial arch for all the soldiers. Since it was raining, I ran out and took a few pictures, but didn't go up to the arch.

Then we went into a train station, which serves as an entry place for George Washington's headquarters.

"Which train would you like to take, sir?"

And now it's time to play..... Name That Shakespeare Play!

"I AM NOT MAD!!!!!!!!"

If you answered Macbeth you are wrong. If you answered Love's Labours Lost you are wrong. If you answered *drum roll* Twelfth Night you are RIGHT! You win.... The right to continue reading this blog post!

Tintin goes to a meeting with General Washington:

Waiting for the "train":

George Washington's headquarters (where he and his assistants planned and did business - mostly correspondence):

Inside it was very beautiful. They said about 80% of the building structure is still original from the 1700's! It was amazing walking on the same floor George Washington had 300 years before me.

George Washington didn't own this house; his own house was in Mount Vernon. Washington was paying rent on this house to a family called Potts. He stayed there for exactly 6 months.

I saw a few things that reminded me of my friend Jack.

First, an old typewriter in the train station:

And an old grandfather clock in George Washington's headquarters.

We stopped by the George Washington Memorial Chapel (an active Episcopal church). It was beautiful.

I mentioned earlier that it was raining. It was raining on and off all day.

Luckily I have an umbrella.





If the rain comes they run and hide their heads.
They might as well be dead.
If the rain comes, if the rain comes.

Rain, I don't mind.
Shine, the world looks fine.

I was feeling quite at home.

Personally, I absolutely love the rain. I would take the rain over sun any day.

This morning I woke up at 6 AM with a migraine. Luckily the headache part wasn't so bad. I "threw up" twice. Since I had nothing in my stomach except water and Advil, that came up first. Then it was just bile from my liver. This is my second migraine on this trip. I hope it doesn't become a regular thing!

Now I should probably post this. We're headed into Philadelphia today!