Before I forget . . .

It's been known to happen and then plague me as I try to fall asleep at night. Funny things the kids say that I want to jot down and keep, great home organizational ideas, errand that needs to be run, something obscure that I should remember to pack or plan for our next trip to simplify my life . . . so here's some recents:

When I was making cupcakes the other day, McKay who loves to help in the kitchen very matter-of-factly said, "Mom, I will help you! I know the destructions."

Morgan's most likely phrases to me lately are "Mom, I hun-ny" [hungry] with a gravelly voice or since she's been sick, "Mom, I snug-ew?" If we go somewhere or someone comes over and she feels anxious I might be leaving her, she insists, "Mommy, I snug-ew on a wap" [your lap]. And then she'll tell me to sit, especially if she's walking off to play. I gave her a hair cut a couple weeks ago, her very first ever so now it brushes her shoulders. Man is she a sweet adorable thing, losing her baby look and charming the pants off mom and dad! Ryan's especially a sucker for her when he gets home!

Easton's class is learning about public places and toured the city's water treatment facility. The selling point he told everyone about was that he was going to, and then got to drink the freshest water on the planet! "Like 1 second old!" His class is also visiting the fire department and town hall in the next two weeks. I really like how his school walks or rides public buses to great local places with such ease. When they were studying patterns all around us, the teacher took small groups of 6 down the road to an old church to look at and sketch patterns in the stained glass.

Morgan and then McKay have been sick all week with a stomach bug. The two times I braved driving to get Easton from school, they both threw up or had the runs. I chickened out the third day and called another mom out of the blue to ask if she'd bring Easton home. Car rides with bowls on kids' laps was just standard operating procedure this week and yet a certain headstrong girl has had enough of the bowl and would rather puke on herself. Fun times. But I'll be honest, after having a houseful of kids during a school break last week, it's been great to have the excuse to lounge around all day snuggling my babies and reading while they watch copious amounts of cartoons! Morgan doesn't seem to be bothered by disappearing lap space due to my growing baby bump although there are times when I want to holler!

My visiting teacher and I were chatting yesterday about all the stuff going on in Japan after the devastating earthquake, tsunami and now the nuclear crisis. I realized how little I actually know about nuclear facilities even having grown up near a famous one where my dad and both grandfather's have worked. It is truly criminal to know so little about the dominating factor of my home economy. So it's time to read up on it!

Our favorite babysitter moved back to the states last summer. She's applying for a summer internship and needed the dates for a weekend getaway we'd taken where she'd watched the kids so I could be one of her references. I tried looking at my iCalendar but I've only been using it for about the past 8 months so I had to go to the blog which is in sore need of some back-labeling to make it easier to find things. Since moving here we've traveled a lot, right? Well, I'd never sat back and listed all the trips/cities/countries we've been to and it was simply amazing to me!

We truly have been so blessed to have this opportunity over here. Ryan's sure to get us out on a few more big ones before we lay low and have this baby. The Netherlands tulip festival, Greece, Ireland, and southern France made the baby deadline.

And I'll soon take my first trip with a friend on a nerd-excursion! We're headed with a chaplain sponsored group up to Ravensbruck Concentration camp outside of Berlin where some memoirs I've read took place and then cross the border into Poland to visit Freidrich Bonhoeffer's institute at Finkenwald. If you're interested in a great documentary, take a look at "Bonhoeffer" made in 2003. He was a Protestant pastor, among the first to vocally speak out against Hitler as he rose to power and then he later became involved in the assassination plots on Hitler. He was part of a new breed of theologians in his time that truly believed the Sermon on the Mount was something we were meant to live by and not just know about. That in itself is a fascinating historical tidbit of European Christianity. Very interesting time and well-made documentary.

This trip is perfectly timed with things I've read or am reading. Last year I read and highly recommend "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Ten Boom. She and her family lived in the Netherlands through the Nazi occupation until being sent to concentration camps for hiding Jews. Her story is so beautiful and famous for her ability to cling to her faith and be able to forgive the depravity of her oppressors. There's also "Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl" - whose family goes into hiding in the Netherlands but is ultimately discovered and sent to a concentration camp. Also a good movie.

I've been listening to "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A history of Nazi Germany" by William Shirer for a couple months now. This is my cooking and cleaning the kitchen listening. Mr. Shirer was a reporter in Germany and Austria during the early days of the Nazis and through the war and aftermath. It's an interesting birds' eye view and well researched work. I'm only up the the eminent invasion of Poland and the beginning of WWII - almost half-way through the book which is 57 hours or 1200+ pages long. I so wish my brain held on to facts like it did in school days!

My current bed-time reading is the memoir, "Michaelangelo in Ravensbruck" by Countess Karolina Lanckoronska. A level-headed Polish Renaissance university professor gets swept up in the Polish resistance and prisoner welfare programs as the Soviets and Nazis divide up and invade Poland. She accounts for life under both Soviet Russian and Ukrainian communist occupation as well as Nazi occupation. She is sent by the Nazis to Ravensbruck Concentration camp. The details of her story and experiences are so interesting while I'm absorbing the history of the Nazis! I have never known anything about Poland other than it being the location of some of the most horrible Nazi extermination camps. I am gaining a great respect for the brave and proud Poles and mourn how the Nazis systematically swooped in and exterminated entire cities' "intelligensia" - the very people who led or made the cities function. No wonder Poland and much of Eastern Europe had such a hard time recovering from WWII when most of their civic leaders, engineers, universities, teachers, pastors and clergy, and others disappeared under occupation or war!

A strong dose of perspective

Last Saturday while my family was enjoying a carefree evening of dinner and trick-or-treating with friends, a fire started in a warehouse here in Stuttgart. Not just any warehouse. It held the household goods and cherished items of almost a hundred families arriving or departing the US Garrison here. Beds, children's bikes, pots and pans, hard drives, wedding and baby pictures . . . all gone. It took 350 firefighters until Tuesday to extinguish the final embers. Deliberate targeting of US goods is being investigated.

I know of two families that were set to move in on Monday and were in their empty new homes waiting for the trucks to deliver their things only to receive a call about the fire. Their kids were eagerly anticipating coming home from school to their own stuff and beginning to feel settled. These families have been living in hotels or with lending closet furnishings for days or even months now in transition.

Can you imagine how devastating? It's one thing to lose everything and another to anticipate the ordeal ahead to replace it all in a new country. But add to that navigating three bureaucracies for reimbursement? It just makes your heart break!

From what I understand, reimbursement for losses can be sought through these three avenues. First, the contracted shipping company/warehouse will reimburse just $4/lb, up to $50,000. The army insurance cap is $40,000 of detailed receipts, pictures and present value estimations are inventoried and submitted correctly. And lastly, some may have personal insurance to help cover losses. At first glance, those sums seem pretty adequate until you fathom the immediate needs to fully furnish a house from scratch versus the lengthy reimbursement process, particularly for those arriving here where the dollar isn't as strong as the euro. Furniture to eat, sleep and gather on (I think I've mentioned this is a land of no built in closets too); large and small appliances we rely upon for everthing; linens; clothes for the entire family beyond the suitcases they brought for fall; home electronics; baby gear and wardrobes . . . When we moved, we had shipped our car with our house goods and unfortunately some of these have as well.

I awoke this morning not being able to get their plight out of my mind. I don't know any of the families personally, only some as acquaintances of friends. I've been inquiring how these families will be helped with immediate needs. One was asking where to buy affordable light bulbs since it is customary in many German homes to have to outfit the home with bulbs and fixtures upon moving in. I think each bulb I bought recently was at least 2euros a piece. Many families are not offered housing on base now if above a certain rank and living on the economy can be shocking. Some apartments off post will often be without kitchen cabinetry or appliances and I've never heard of them having washer/dryers already.

Our ward is doing up some baskets for a new family in the ward that has been able to communicate a handful of needs. It will be difficult for so many to ask for help and accept it.

My friend whose husband is a chaplain said that after the Fort Hood shooting tragedy a year ago, the chaplains observed that they were in a good position to channel donations with more ease than many other efforts. They will likely dedicate some services to these families and collect tithes and offerings as well as set up a dedicated bank account that people can donate to. My friend has taken two affected families under their wings, having them over for dinners and even celebrated one of the daughters' birthdays.

My neighbor mentioned Operation Homefront to me and their work looks very admirable. She had told her her friend who was affected to set up a PayPal account, an Amazon Wish List, a Target registry and so on so people can buy them things they actually need and like or cover Christmas gifts. We're checking our baby clothes stashes for winter stuffs for their 4 month old. Again, dinners were shared, sympathies extended were actions.

There is a community yard sale site here kinda like a CraigsList where my friend suggested people could post items and say they were free to families affected by the fire.

I am sure the Garrison is working hard on the needs assessments collected this week to pull resources together. I know the families will be alright and that while devastating, "things" can be replaced.

I guess I'm having a bit of survivor's guilt and feeling useless to help. How ungrateful I am to live in comfort and having been blessed as I have been. I've recently been rather silly and short fused, making mountains out of mole hills. But this is the month of Thanksgiving, immediately followed by the season of giving in commemoration of our Father's ultimate gift, our Savior. And rightly so!

Got peace?

Last week held a culmination and roller coaster of poignant thoughts for me.

Earlier in the week Ryan and I watched Food, Inc. and Collapse. Ryan and I really enjoyed discussing the ideas put forth and how they relate to our family's position. Peak oil theory, the industrialization of our food production from seed to the dinner table, economic and energy policies, war and why it is waged, the loss of connection many of us have with the land and its bounty . . . contrasted with what modern prophets have counseled.

We've been mulling over job offers on three continents. So many factors to consider.

We coached our first soccer games of the season last Saturday, September 11. We're coaching Easton's 6-7 yr old team and McKay's 3-5 yr old team. A ceremonial moment of silence for the victims and the loved ones they left behind was held at the beginning of every game that day here.

That evening, Ryan had been asked to participate in a missionary fireside. It was beautiful and well thought out. Each speaker spoke briefly on one assigned principle of the restored gospel and was followed by a beautiful musical number by a youth choir or gifted individuals. It was simple and the message was clear. With the upheaval of events and thoughts over the week, I was so grateful to be reminded of the great gift we have to be members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Afterward, we couldn't tear ourselves away from 9-11 documentaries about the victims' last moments as told through taped phone calls, messages and their families.

I prepared my lesson and we were covering Isaiah on Sunday, September 12, 2010. Isaiah was a prophet for his day and the most quoted prophet for his prophecies of the most important events in humankind, the birth and second coming of our Savior. It was very interesting giving this lesson on September 12. As an attention activity, it asked for a newspaper's headlines to be shown and discussed with the class. The only newspapers in my possession were a copy of the Washington Post and USA Today from September 12, 2001.

My class was made up of 9-11 year old girls that day and they were fascinated by this paper. After all, they were either not yet born or just babies then! We talked of King Hezekiah, who he was and how he prepared himself and his kingdom both temporally and spiritually for the invading Assyrians. All around him, his allies were falling to the invaders. Yet he was a man of God in a time when most were not and as such, he sought out the prophet's counsel and he and his people were saved. I found this message so timely.

I loved pulling out my old Jerusalem textbooks, reading about Sennacherib's empire, his engraved triumphal mural about the seige of Lachish at his palace in Ninevah, and Hezekiah's tunnel. And yet all those fun facts were not what I was meant to share with my class. It was very clear to me.

Instead, following the Spirit, I briefly related where I was on 9-11-01 and the scene of fear and foreboding at the Pentagon that day and in the weeks that followed. I told them how I was never more anxious for General Conference that October, to hear what the prophets and apostles of our day would say to us. I remembered and related the peace and comfort of their words and testified that Christ's Second Coming which we discussed would be an exciting time if we followed the prophets, knew and studied their words and kept the commandments.

There is so much to fear these days at every turn, headlines are full of it. But as Isaiah 54 prophesied:

10 For the ^amountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the ^bcovenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.

13 And all thy ^achildren shall be ^btaught of the Lord; and great shall be the ^cpeace of thy children.

14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee.

17 ¶ No ^aweapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every ^btongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the ^cservants of the Lord, and their righteousness is of me, saith the Lord.

World Cup Fever!

About a week before the World Cup began, my neighbor put up his flag. In the year and a half we've lived here, we hadn't really seen German flags unless they were in official places so it was something new to start seeing them everywhere. To my knowledge, there's no national day like our 4th of July.

The match was at 4pm. We made a run to the pool to cool off but the pool began emptying at 3. All the German decor is out in force now daily -- cars with window flags, rear view mirror flag covers, car hoods wrapped in the flag, plastic flower leis hanging on necks and rear view mirrors . . . the kids at McKay's school wear the team's jersey and sport flag tattoos on their cheeks and arms. We also see other countries from all over represented by their car and home flags waving. With the tournament well underway, we also have been seeing and hearing kids blowing those infernal horns too. Whose idea was that anyways?! But it's really quite exciting and Ryan loves the fervor which is akin to what he experienced on his mission in Brasil when they won the World Cup in 1994.

Americans don't rally behind soccer and the World Cup like many countries do so this is new to me. It is real fun to see Germany cheer their team on. Our AFN satellite has a 5 second delay from what our neighbors see with German cable. You can tell when they score and you hear them start celebrating as you then see the goal. I must say "Well Done!" on a decisive 4-0 victory, Germany, and giving us a great show tonight! Wish I hadn't been so exhausted, I love the game, but with McKay snuggled up after our pool outing we both crashed through most of it. Some fan I am!

After the match today, we sure got a kick out of driving around! Here's a bit of what I was able to catch on the move.

Traffic circles were the favorite! People would circle around them many times honking their car horns, shouting, and blowing the other horns. If you passed a biergarten, you'd sometimes hear boisterous singing too.

Here's a tractor, much like I see every day around our town which is surrounded by fields. This tractor, however, was pulling a large wagon load of happily drinkin', loud and proud flag-waving fans!

This pretty much epitomizes what we saw and heard for two hours straight tonight! So fun! I'm a little upset by the Burger King behind it. This was taken near an American airfield as these guys left the traffic circle. I wish you could hear all the honkin' and hollerin'! Ryan was thrilled to honk along with the rest of them!

We stopped and grabbed some dinner which happened to be near a traffic circle. It was so fun to see the different cars doing their celebrating. Here's Morgan enjoying her apfelshorle (carbonated apple juice) and giving me her cheesy grin.

Easton begged and begged for pepperoni pizza and then drank a ton of apfelsaft (apple juice, no bubblies) while waiting for it to come so he never even ate a piece. [Sigh!] Can you read the boredom on his face? Miraculously, he was hungry for popcorn the minute we got home since they were going to watch Wall-E.

Upon returning home, I saw my neighbor's flag waving in the evening breeze. We have very happy neighbors tonight!

I had an interesting chat with McKay's kindergarten teacher this week. We were talking about the World Cup and how she uses it to teach the kids geography and math as they keep track of the matches each day. She noted that four years ago when the tournament was held in Germany, it was the first time she saw everyone proudly waving, wearing, and decorating with the flag. That it was a real turning point she witnessed with great joy. All over Germany, big screens were set up all over for people to gather and watch the matches. She is in her 50s and said she couldn't do all this as a child because the flag was associated with the Nazis. She is very happy to see such a sense of national pride again in the younger generations. Many Germans sure LOVE soccer!!!

Kids around here can dribble circles around US kids of the same age! In a friend's town, when they recently signed their two boys aged 7 and 9 up for the local year-round team, they discovered the kids practiced four days a week, two hours per practice! Six year olds were being taught how to do diving headers on mats! Compare that with the one hour practices twice a week I ran this spring concentrating on bare bones basics! No wonder there's a skills gap! As I've talked a with a few friends, many of them won't sacrifice the family time missed for that type of intense commitment and wish there was a more laid back alternative while others just love it. Either way, the German team sure is doing spectacular and it's fun to be here for it!

Our Roots Matter

How important are our family roots and what do we know about them?

A few months ago, an old friend who loves researching her family tree blogged about new program on NBC called "Who Do You Think You Are?" Each episode follows a celebrity like Sarah Jessica Parker and Spike Lee as they trace their family roots with genealogists and found amazing things. I was sad it wasn't available online at the time and was thrilled when I thought a new show being shown tonight on AFN (American Forces Network) was it, only to find out it wasn't - but I love this one we've got!

It's a newer PBS program called "Faces of America." Here's the blurb:

What made America? What makes us? These two questions are at the heart of the new PBS series Faces of America with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. The Harvard scholar turns to the latest tools of genealogy and genetics to explore the family histories of 12 renowned Americans — professor and poet Elizabeth Alexander, chef Mario Batali, comedian Stephen Colbert, novelist Louise Erdrich, journalist Malcolm Gladwell, actress Eva Longoria, musician Yo-Yo Ma, director Mike Nichols, Her MajestyQueen Noor, television host/heart surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz, actress Meryl Streep, and figure skater Kristi Yamaguchi.

What fun television!

Of course, it got me thinking of my own and Ryan's roots, but I've been reading Queen Noor of Jordan's autobiography and really enjoying it. I checked out some of the clips of her "Faces of America" interview online just now to get a better read on her because I am loving her book.

Her "Leap of Faith" book is fascinating! It has opened my eyes to Jordan's history which I've never really isolated from my study of the region, and the dynamics at work for the past century. It's a great read because it's told by an American who also deeply, proudly claims her Arab heritage as well. Queen Noor was born and raised in the US but in a chance meeting through her father, met and a few years later married a recently widowed King Hussein of Jordan in the early 197os. I thought I had a reasonable handle on the Arab perspectives, but this took it to a whole new level. And with US involvement in the region likely to continue forever, I think it's imperative to understand their viewpoints too.

Just a glimpse into Queen Noor's world: Imagine what it must be like to live in and help oversee Jordan where floods of refugees inundate your developing country with each crisis in the often volatile Middle East for the past 80 years or so. I mean really, there's a crisis annually of great proportion in that region! Now imagine the strain on scarce national resources for food, education, and healthcare to help those refugees who have no hope of returning home any time soon. Couple that with the fact your own fragile trade and commerce is being shocked or devastated by upheavals across your borders - Israel, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria . . . Oh yeah, more than one of your neighboring countries amasses troops on your border now and then. You've got the quagmire of regional and big money Western relations all with their own agendas to desperately placate and work with to find solutions.

Let's not forget that your biggest refugee population that has overwhelmed your social infrastructure, the Palestinians, has some dark elements within who make assassination attempts on you and your family and plot to overthrow your government while you're working on their behalf with other world leaders to find a two state solution with Israel . . . Oh there's just so many interesting, amazing and difficult layers to Jordan's place in the Middle East! Reading this book sure has put the outcry in the US over immigration and security issues into a whole new perspective for me among other hot topics!

Now imagine if it was your husband trying to hold it all together in a delicate balance and you're newly married to him, starting and raising a family with lots of older step children to blend into the family dynamic, and you yourself are adjusting to a new language and culture that is now your own. Do you wear your tiara every day or not and how is it perceived at home and abroad?! Sheesh!

I'm glossing over so much here, but this area of the world is just not understood by most of us. The plight of the Palestinians has been on my mind with all the news over the Turkish aid flotilla incident. See, I'm so steeped in the nuances of the region that I couldn't even decide if I should write "incident" or "massacre" or what because it's so political. Have you seen a refugee camp before? I have seen a Palestinian one in person and read of refugee camps in other war torn countries. What if you felt compelled to live in squalor with little or no chance of opportunities for a better life in order to lay claim to the land of your family's roots, your very culture and identity? Would you be willing to die for it? Would you be willing to sacrifice your family's future for it? And that's just some Palestinian's side of it, Israelis have their own compelling reasons for being there for their own roots.

Until you walk in their shoes there, you can't say and I still don't feel I can. I met some truly wonderful, peace-loving people there and it made me wonder at my great fortune to be born when and where I was. Our roots matter and I'm grateful for my understanding of God's eternal plan for families to be connected beyond this life. We're all God's children, we have that greatest of all common roots.

Easton

As I walked through the living room armed with a basket of dirty laundry headed for the wash, I asked the boys to turn off the TV because their cartoon was over. They rarely listen to me the first time but as I was hunched over loading clothes into the washer, Easton came up and said, "I turned off the TV because I remembered Maddie's Grumpy Afternoon story so I listened to you."

Is that the Hallelujah chorus I hear?!!! Last night I'd read a randomly selected story from the Friend magazine to the boys before bedtime and it talked about Maddie being grumpy while having to run errands with her mom. What a great story to talk about obedience and being helpful!

I grabbed Easton up and smothered him in appreciative kisses! I love this kid! He is so quick to obey and I'm trying real hard to remember to use gospel terms more often! It is fun to see him learning and retaining so much every day!

Then I said it was time to pick up the living room to get ready for Daddy coming home. Easton said, "When I get big, I'm going to go to work so I don't have to pick up toys." Ahhh, if only that was true!

Today we got word that a father of two students at Easton's school died in a helicopter accident last weekend. I talked with Easton about it on the walk home from the bus. He took it pretty well and was able to tell me what teachers were given to share with the students. He stopped at one point and grabbed my leg. "I don't want Daddy to fly helicopters." I told him no worries there.

In his Bulldog Envelope today he had a Help Haiti envelope. The students are to place a dollar in it and bring it back. We hadn't talked to the kids about the horrible earthquake there, but I felt like I needed to this afternoon. We pulled out the globe and I showed them pictures online of buildings turned to rubble, tent cities, bandaged people, and relief efforts. They took it pretty well and both incidents helped us talk about things we could do to help even though we're far away.

Remembering September 11

As this anniversary rolls around each year, I think about where I was then like everyone else does. I looked back at my blog archives to see if I'd ever written up where I was that day. I still get teary remembering the collective emotions of that time. Seeing military uniforms regularly here on bases always reminds me of that day at the Pentagon. Knowing that many here have been or are going to theaters of our War on Terror, it makes me proud of them, disappointed in how our government has handled aspect of it, sad for their families, and hopeful.

I always feel compelled to check in with my coworker Mary who was with me that morning. I hope I get to call her today. Time zones mess with my best intentions to keep in touch.


Here's where I was then . . .

The greatest is love.

Me and the boys were happily making our way to Wegmans this morning to meet up with friends. I was tearing up at all the "proud to be an American" songs being played by country radio in honor of 9/11 and remembering where I was that day.

For those of you who don't know, when flight 77 hit the Pentagon, I was on the other side of the Pentagon underground in the Metro station. The station manager came out screaming "BOMB! Everybody out! The second one is coming!" Mass hysteria ensued as about 70 people tried to clamber up the escalators. People were hurdling the entry barricades and one woman was stuck with her baby stroller. Others were getting run over because they'd tripped - I've never seen such chaos, and I'm so glad there weren't more people. I saw my coworker, Mary, and we made our way up and out of the station.

Once outside, I saw black smoke rising from the west side of the Pentagon - the Metro station is on the east side - and government workers being evacuated. What was the most disconcerting was all the uniformed armed servicemen and women running out of the building crying and on cell phones. I heard some on their calls and realized it was a commercial plane and not a bomb that had hit the Pentagon. I remember one lady in her Navy blues saying, "WHAT?! The World Trade Center was hit?!"

Mary and I made our way to my brother's apartment building where in the lobby we were with at least 30 others watching the news coverage on a little 19" tv and that's where I saw the first tower fall. It was a miracle I was able to make a collect call from a payphone to call my mom and let her know I was okay.

It took us 2 hours to go less than three miles when my roommate was able to pick me up. Instead of angry, impatient drivers, however, everyone was very patient and willing to let another car join the flow of traffic that day. Most had their windows rolled down and people waved you in.

What a horrible day that was, but I felt like everyone re-examined what meant the most to them. The Alan Jackson song, "Where Were You (When The World Stopped Turning)" is the one that brings it all back for me every time.

Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?
Were you in the yard with your wife and children working on some stage in L.A.?
Did you stand there in shock at the sight of that black smoke
Rising against that blue sky?
Did you shout out in anger, in fear for your neighbor
Or did you just sit down and cry?

Did you weep for the children who lost their dear loved ones
And pray for the ones who don't know?
Did you rejoice for the people who walked from the rubble
And sob for the ones left below?
Did you burst out with pride for the red, white and blue
And the heroes who died just doin' what they do?
Did you look up to heaven for some kind of answer
And look at yourself and what really matters?
CHORUS (1x)
Where were you when the world stopped turning that September day?
Teaching a class full of innocent children
Or driving down some cold interstate?
Did you feel guilty cause you’re a survivor
In a crowded room did you feel alone?
Did you call up your mother to tell her you loved her;
Did you dust off that Bible at home?

Did you open your eyes and hope it never happened,
Close your eyes and not go to sleep?
Did you notice the sunset for the first time in ages,
Speak to some stranger on the street?
Did you lay down at night and think of tomorrow,
And go out and buy you a gun?
Did you turn off that violent home movie you’re watchin And turn on I Love Lucy
reruns?

Did you go to a church and hold hands with some stranger
or stand in line and give your own blood?
Did you just stay home and cling tight to your family,
Thank God you had somebody to love?
CHORUS 2x

CHORUS
I'm just a singer of simple songs
I'm not a real political man;
I watch CNN but I'm not sure I can tell you
The difference in Iraq and Iran.
But I know Jesus, and I talk to God,
And I remember this from when I was young:
Faith, hope, and love are some good things He gave us,
And the greatest is love.

And the greatest is love.
And the greatest is love.

Where were you when the world stopped turning on that September day?

National Health Care System?

Click here to watch a youtube clip.

National Right to Life is working hard against efforts to nationalize health care. The clip above tells the story of a couple in Ontario, Canada last year seeking to pay for their own life-saving medical treatment for a brain tumor. It warns us what to expect if a national health care system is put in place in the US. This is a very real problem and a big campaign slogan for some presidential candidates. Pay attention, so your family can be protected in its time of need.