American Airlines Lost My Dog Faith

Wow! If I even began to try and tell you all that was going through my head it would take several blogs. I can't begin. So, go to my website and read the latest news articles - or by the time you read this they may be older. I'll be safe in saying you can google the information on line. Just type in "American Airlines Loses Faith the Dog" and you'll see the hundreds of blogs and stories about it. I was so scared for several hours that I became sick to my stomach. I ate very little at the restaurant when American gave me a voucher to do so. I was hurt that they were so careless, but tried to be optimistic...afterall, her entire story is about having FAITH! I couldn't possibly give up hope. I prayed and I prayed. As I was actually talking to God I was overwhelmed with a warm feeling that it was all going to be OK. It took a few hours longer, but she was finally delivered from wherever it was that they shipped her to, and she was happy to see me. She was very stressed, anxious, excited, and she was exhausted when we made it to the hotel. She just collapsed and slept 10 hours straight through.

It was hard to forgive American Airlines, but I have forgiven...but I am not willing to forget. They will have to bend over backwards and even do a few flips to impress me now. I'll let my attorney Anita F. Sanders handle it, she's a great lawyer and will know exactly what to do for the business end of Faith - Faith is a multi-purpose dog. She's a family pet of course, but she does have a potential earning power as well - there's no getting around it. She is going to be in movies, do shows, and be seen by millions very soon. She is loved of course, we do spoil the dickens out of her daily - and we expect her to be as happy as she has always been. We give her everything she could ever ever ever want, and she gives back even more!

Thanks to EVERYONE who prayed and hoped for her return and those of you who wished us well, and talked to us in the airports, the stores, the restaurants! We thank you all. You are all so very very kind - oh, and yes, there was one woman who said I was cruel, nasty and mean for letting her live in the first place, but I just said a little prayer for her, and I hope she gets over her fatalistic depressive attitude soon. Afterall, Faith is just too wonderful to even consider being without! She's a miracle and thank JESUS she is mine. (But I'll share! LOL)

Alexander Hamilton and I have a "History" thing going on.

I am such a freakin' teacher! I have this terrible habit, and if you're near me - anywhere near me- you need to be made aware of it. I'm a hopeless know-it-much of such stupid little trivial things and I like to share my knowledge - without asking your permission! It's a teacher thing. I swear to God, and He knows me - made me. I will teach at the drop of a coin! I will teach without any reason whatsoever!

I went to the store to day and I had a goal to find 5 students under the age of 30 that knew who was on the $10 bill. NO ONE DID. DAMN! Do you know how disheartening it is to find that NO ONE in the city of Edmond, OK that I asked, knew whose face has graced the 10-spot for umpteen years now? It was terribly upsetting. I took 5 $10.00 bills, I went to store after store, Starbucks (3 of them), Panera Bread, Foot Locker, Victoria's Secret (oh, but I did get 5 panties for $25.00 and a really cool mini-dog, so that one worked out for me.) NOT ONE person under the age of 30 could tell me who was on the $10.00 bill. I was willing and able to give out all 5 bills if anyone had been able to tell me - without looking.

So, here's what I did. I told a guy that Alexander Hamilton was on the $10.00, then I challenged him to find out how Hamilton died. I told him I would be seated in front of Hot Topic for 10 minutes and if he could tell me, I would give him $10.00. He never came back. Not worth asking I guess. So, there I sat - and I wondered, andI pondered, has our educational system failed to the point that no one really cares who is on the bill? Why Hamilton anyway? Why not Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK, or maybe even Einstein! Hamilton wasn't a president, neither was Benjamin Franklin...what about Sam Houston? He would strike a great pose for the money. But I digress.

Finally - I took my little side show to the college library, hoping that among the aisles of books, and scores of computers all being used that someone could be bothered to earn a little free cash just for having listened a few times in their History Class. That's when I saw her! A little girl about 8 years old - reading a book! I asked her mother if I could test her a little for the chance to get a real $10.00 bill. Her mother was excited to be asked, and she agreed. Her name - Maria. So, I sat next to Maria and I asked her if she could spell "Alexander Hamilton". She did. I asked her if she could use the internet. She did that too - and within a few minutes little Maria knew more about Hamilton than just how he died, and that he wasn't a president, and that he was the genteel face that we see everytime we pick up an old or new $10.00 bill. Maria then told me that Benjamin Franklin wasn't a real president, that George W's middle name was not Washington, and that Washington wasn't the real first president because she learned last Friday in school that a Swedish man was asked to serve, but she couldn't remember his name.

I was so excited to see her face when she told me these things - I asked her mother if she could have $20.00 instead of $10.00 and she nodded. She added "Maria - you learned today that education can be fun, it can be helpful, and it can be rewarded." I took the other $30.00 home with me and I drilled the hell out of my own three kids for about 30 minutes over the past 43 presidents, their wives, their missions, their achievements, their follies - and I asked them to do me this one favor - to never forget that a base education is indeed only a base! It is MEANT to be built on. They each earned $10.00 for putting up with their mom today!

God bless our president today!

Dreaming of NYC Again!

It's always Manhattan! I'm simply going to have to get a few more trips in so I can take in Queens, Staten Island, Brooklyn, and the Bronx every now and then - I only dream about Manhattan, and even then the dream almost always includes parts of Central Park as well as Times Square - both very key to my heart.

Last night I didn't see the insides of my eyelids until way past 3:30 in the morning. I was blogging, talking on MySpace, checking e-mail, doing itenieraries for my traveling - finally I grabbed the headphones and turned on the MP3. Now, just yesterday I had downloaded a few more CDs because my little 5 GB player is only 1/2 full and I wanted more songs to listen to and to play with. Play with? What do you mean? Well, I do a thing with my MP3 player that rivals the hell out of the Magic 8 Ball (Registered Trademark). I ask a really juicy question, pump the song selector and allow the shuffle on my MP3 to come up with a title which 98.7% of the time will equate to an answer. Here's my question from last night that just cracked me up.

"MP3" (I call it MP3 for lack of a better name. Funny, I named a house I don't live in yet, but I still call my MP3 by it's technical and generic name!) I asked "MP3...after the surgeries, after the healing, after the shopping spree - what do you think I should do with my new self?" and the answer came back - "Take Me Back" by .38 Special! I had to laugh. How great was that? So, I go to sleep - dream and I dream and I dream. This time - NYC....again.

Faith and I were in a building, it was black, it was older, it was tall. I pushed the elevator button and got on - it took us to the penthouse. I don't know why, but it wasn't locked. The doors hung open, and we walked in. I think I was thinking about renting or buying it. I walked around uninvited and unescorted. It wasn't well decorated, but my stuff wasn't there either, so it wasn't mine yet. I had all sorts of plans for it, in my mind I could see my things, but I knew they were not there at that time. The bathroom walls were lime green. Something my daughters would appreciate, and I decided to leave them that color after I bought the thing. The toilet had not been flushed, I flushed it. I closed the lid of the toilet, washed my hands, and came out to see what Faith had found. She had found a girl!

Rachel was about 20, she was a bit surprised to see us, but she showed us a great deal more hospitality than I would have shown an intruder. She let us stay - she loved Faith, and she wanted us to go to her building's indoor playground to see the kids. Faith was running, jumping, skipping, and colliding with 10-20 kids, sliding down the big plastic slides and diving into the balls. She was really having a great time. I looked out the window and watched the iceskaters at Rockefeller Square, and I remember thinking the little girl with Rachel was too old to be her biological daughter, must be a sister. Where were the parents? I realized it was me! I was going to be taking care of them. That's why she was being so inviting. She had wanted us to show up.

Rachel took her big pink backpack and headed off to work. I wasn't sure how I would be telling her that I would not be her mom. I would be buying the place, but not keeping her - or would I? I bet I would! I know me. So, in my dream I pulled out the MP3 player and I asked "MP3...am I'm going to keep Rachel and the little girl too?" The answer - Phil Collins "Jesus, He Knows Me" - Wow! I can't get away from my self in my dreams either. That's OK...I woke up and wrote this down on paper, looked it up and am very satisfied with the interpretations I found online. I'm moving in the right directions - I have my priorities in line. I am still loving, caring, giving, and sharing, so the new money, fortune, fame -whatever you call it, will not affect my soul. I will remain the person I am. That's good. I have to admit, I like me.

Positively Negative! (2007)

I tell my former students at Santa Fe South Jr. High in Oklahoma City that I'm going to write a book about our year together and that I'm going to call the book "Positively Negative" because the experiences I had there were great at both ends of the spectrum. One of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves is the power or the willpower it takes to be more positive. You just don't need to be so negative all the time - really, you don't. If you kept a penny jar with you, and every time you said something negative you would take a penny out and give it to someone - ask yourself how long it would take you to run out of pennies. If someone is being negative to you - and they had to give you a penny for every time they were hurtful, would you have a jar full before too long? Probably so - and the problem of negative thinking seems to be growing, not decreasing as time rolls by. 

     Because it's a medical fact that thinking negatively, acting in a negative manner, and expecting negative results from others can actually cripple a person both physically and mentally, I'm compelled to ask why the hell someone would put up with it if they know they're hurting themselves on a daily, maybe even an hourly basis. There has to be another way to get the point across to your spouse, your kid, your friend, your boss, your employee, your doctor, your patient...other than being negative, nasty or rude. Let me give you some personal experiences so you can see that I'm just as guilty as everyone, and therefore I have an actual say in this. I used to cuss my head off every single time something didn't go my way - I found that both annoying and disgusting, but there I was doing it. My kids picked up the habit, and before long we were all swearing, being ugly, twisting up our faces and making blue streaks across the air just in front of our faces.

     I can also tell you honestly, that during this time in my life (their lives too) that I was in debt, looking for work, hadn't been able to catch up, catch a break, and I was digging myself deeper and deeper because the depression of it made it so much harder to get off my butt and find a way out - ENTER Ms. Positive. Now, don't get me wrong - things didn't turn around the first day, the second day, or even after a week but after time had elapsed I noticed that things were still dire, but when I stopped the fretting, worrying, stomping my feet and hitting my head against the wall - I was able to think more clearly about the necessary solutions. I remember literally turning off the radio if a positive song came on because I was too upset to even listen to happiness for 3:14 minutes. That's stupid.

     I read handwriting. I know that big, fat, loopy lettering can mean that someone is feeling well, happy, overjoyed in fact about something, and if they curly-que their endings...well, something may just be going on that makes the world (their world) seem a little brighter than the one I was slumping through. What did I do? What do I do? It's simple - I write out everything I'm feeling, wanting, desiring, hoping for, and observing in cursive and I FORCE myself to overtly open up and loop my letters. Believe me, this works. Instead of feeding myself a piece of cake I grab an apple, and instead of cussing I put my hand up in the air and shut my mouth. That one took a lot of self control, and there were times when someone on the road looked at me with the anticipation of seeing a one-fingered salute at the extended end of my arm and hand...but they didn't. Just me putting my hand up. It was a flag, a real honest-to-goodness warning that I had to change something that was holding me back and pushing me down...my mouth! 

    My mouth was the worst enemy I could ever have imagined. It's been a very very long time since I went an entire day without being negative, probably when I was 2 years old, but I can assure you this - I am much much more likely to smile than to frown 99% of the time, and I'm just as apt to put my hand up in the air to stop me from telling you off. I know I'm healing from anything and all things negative because I don't have to allow the dirty spots of poor attitude(s) to even enter into my head...I can pray them out, wish them away, state they don't exist - and grab the pen when things get really nasty. I can write, and write, and write, and when the loops are looking good - finally again - I can get myself a fat, juicy apple and just lift that hand straight into the air. 

    Maybe in my heart I'm hoping God will reach down from Heaven and take hold of it - maybe He does. My days of teaching are over I think. I write for a living now, and I speak at national organizations where most of my topics involve women with needs who are concerned about the future of their children and for themselves in a world that seems to be closing in on them all the time. There has to be a way out - there must be a better way - a better day - it is not an easy path to walk, not by any stretch of the imagination; no one said it would be. Thank God for the will to choose good over evil, great over bad, and positive over negative. We won't do it every time, but we can do it often, more often...can't we?

Bumped Off Letterman!

What a disappointment!

From my sources I hear all the time that David Letterman wants to meet my dog Faith. We have been invited a number of times to be on the show, but it was always for Stupid Pet Tricks, and what Faith does is simply not stupid, nor is it a trick. So, we were contacted last week and asked to be a part of the Monday line up because Michael Richards was going to apologize, and Jerry Seinfeld was going to be there to help with that, and it would be a good thing to have a little happy moment too! Afterall, what Faith does is happy, uplifting, fun, and inspirational....she breaks the ice, she makes you smile, she helps to heal the broken hearts and souls out there that need a little encouragement.

We went to the studio that night, Monday November 20, and we walked through the line saying hello to everyone, stopping for photos, and getting as much love and as many kisses as possible. We were directed to go to the back to the doors for the stage...and there we met up with 30-40 maybe 50 photographers and reporters all waiting for Jerry to show up. Which he did, and after a few minutes of the photographers preferring to snap pictures of Faith over Jerry, well....we were asked NOT to come into the studio for the show. How sad is that?I can't say with certainty WHO had us bumped, but it wasn't David, we know that much. We were guaranteed through a mutual acquaintance the next day that he was disappointed that she wasn't on the show afterall. We left our contact information at the Skyline Hotel on 49th and 10th Ave just incase he wanted to contact us for Tuesday. (Do you like the way I sort of plugged the Skyline? Great hotel!)

No calls came in, so I spent Tuesday answering my cell from about 30 people in the media who had contacts in the group of reporters. I told them I didn't know what was happening. I wasn't about to say Jerry Seinfeld told them NOT to let us on the show...that would be premature and ignorant of me. I also didn't want to say that we would not be on that night...I didn't know. As it turns out, we were officially bumped. No one will admit to who it was that said no, but the blame is being absorbed by the executive producer, so we'll go with that. The next day, my birthday, was spent in and out, off and on the set of Law & Order, as they were filming in the hotel...the SKYLINE on 49th and 10th Ave...same one. I won't be on the show, but everyone loved Faith...everyone....everyone.....I have to say this because it would be wrong not to, but Milena Govich is a gorgeous woman! She's from Oklahoma you know...I wanted to yell "Boomer" to see if she would call back "Sooner" as she's actually obligated by birth to do so, but it would have gotten the crew up a bit...so I didn't.

Jesse L. Martin is without a doubt the best looking man I have ever hugged. EVER. He is so sweet, so kind, and a little taken by Faith. He had a great big smile on his face when he came over to see her many times.The cast of L&O couldn't have been nicer. Everyone of them...all 200 I think. They were so nice, and when they kicked me out of my room, my hotel, the lobby, the sidewalk, the park, the public street....they smiled! We were always underfoot and didn't mean to be. Crowds were gathering wherever I set Faith down, so you can imagine. Although, the director told me he would hire us to distract the crowds at some point. I may take him up on that. I know that Faith will be in movies soon, probably in commercials too, but I would love for the writers of L&O to write up a little something-something about a former famous comedian getting whacked in Hell's Kitchen by a crazed author who was suppose to be on the Letterman Show but was bumped for his apology! They could use her famous dog to figure out that she only spoke with the jerk, and that the concierge (Norman) actually offed the man for getting his lobby muddy!Hahahaha.....Happy reading and writing to you all. Hugs and kisses from Faith.

Go see her at www.faiththedog.net.

My Favorite Christmas Present!

Reuben is Coming Home Soon!

Oh, my heart is beginning to flutter, and to pound at the same time. My baby boy, Pvt. Reuben A. Stringfellow, of the U.S. Army is coming home for the holidays in just 20 days. (Dec. 19) and he'll be able to stay with us for about 2 1/2 week. I love my son! I really didn't know the Army had such a heart, but they do. They even have a sense of humor at times....I wrote to my son's Drill Sgt. to let them know that he wouldn't break if they wanted to run him a little more, or give him a few extra assignments. It's not something every mother would do to their son, but I know mine. When he played football for his high school team (could've been a walk on at Oklahoma University, but went to the Army) I used to tell his coachs to run him harder, hit him harder, make him work a bit longer. He needed it, the team needed him to be the best he could be, and I believed that it would make him that much better. I told them I had paid good money for my son's bruises!

My Baby Boy is absolutely beautiful. Bruises and all. Of course the Army Drill Sgts made him run an extra mile after their PTs, of course they told the plattoon to watch as "Baby Boy" worked out a little longer. They loved it! He wrote home asking me to stop writing to his Drill Sgts...but he laughed too.Reuben is the original owner and rescuer of our dog Faith. Faith is the world's only two-legged bi-pedal dog (that we know of) and has her own website at www.faiththedog.net. I hope you are able to visit it, and understand a little more about the soul of a boy that would jump a fence at night to help save the life of a precious little furry dog in need.My son is coming home!!!! Thank you, Jesus! Thank you.

That Dog is EVERYWHERE

Media Coverage on Faith the Dog - Not a complete list by any means.

Hey, this is really cool! Who knew that 2006 would be the year of the DOG literally? Faith has been seen on Montel, Oprah, Inside Edition, ET, Letterman, talked about on many others, (I'm told Ellen) and others. She's been in countless magazines, newspapers, on TV stations across the world, and over the national and international airwaves through radio interviews with me and/or my kids. She's just been everywhere.

We started the year off with a bang, and are ending it with a fine trip to Panama City, FL last week where we were on WJHG-TV Channel 7. (On to NYC next) In fact, if I made a little list of the business cards I collected from the places we were performing this year, it would look like this: (I'll miss a few)
Brown Gravy Entertainment - Dallas, TX
Texas Outdoor Expo - Grapevine, TX
Grapevine Mall - Grapevine, TX
News Channel 5 WEWS-TV - Cleveland, OH
Oprah Winfrey Show - Chicago, IL
Montel Williams Show - New York City, NY
FUSE - New York City, NY
Letterman (We tried), NYC, NY
Law & Order (They were cool) we didn't get on the show, we hung out - NYC, NY
63 different Starbucks all over the country _think about that number - 63 in one year.
Olde Towne Book Faire - Martinburg, WV
Barnes & Noble, Oklahoma City, OK
Oklahoma City University Book Fair - Oklahoma City
Oklahoman, the Edmond Outlook, various other OK newspapers
Animal Attractions, PineRidge TV - Jacksonville, FL
Animal Planet (Go Onix!)
Inside Edition - NYC, and Los Angeles
Paws of Ohio - Cleveland, OH
Ft. Lewis - Seattle, WA
Ft. McChord - Seattle, WA
Carswell - Ft. Worth, TX
Humane Society of Bay County - Panama City, FL
WTFN-TV, Sydney Australia
Norman Public Schools, Norman, OK
Edmond Public Schools, Edmond, OK
Skyline Hotel, NYC, NY
and too many radio stations to think about mentioning.

Oprah's producers had us on May 19, July 12, and in October due to the many requests from viewers. YouTube told us she was one of the most watched videos on their site, as did AOL and Yahoo videos. I know she's going to show up tomorrow (Friday Dec. 22, 2006) on VH1 Best of Web Junk, and she's been on other "best of" shows all week. Some people think she is the most talked about animal in Hollywood..and she's not even IN Hollywood yet. We DO have an agent now. I won't say her name until we sign the contracts, but we'll be in Hollywood this year with Faith. I know that! What am I trying to say? Well....thank you! Thank you to the producers, the publishers, the people who wanted to put her on their shows, the people who wanted to put her on the magazines and newspapers...from Martinsburg, WV to the NY Post...thank you. I hope to see every single one of you again....and it's nice to think that Anderson Cooper may show up at my door soon to see Faith...bring it! Oh, and this year we'll be traveling with Jon Provost of Lassie, and doing USO tours, book signings, and Faith's going to be in her own movie!

Yes, God is so cool!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

How old are you anyway?

I was at a Christmas service one time when the preacher was literally heckled from the congregation after he mentioned (with all kinds of authority) that Jesus was born in September, not on December 25th as we annually celebrate. The preacher stood quietly as his congregation got almost heated in their divisiveness - one man shockingly shouting that it would be witchcraft to assume Christ was born under any Zodilogical sign - another stating boldly that the wisemen couldn't have possibly have made the trek in the time limits he had been taught as a kid.

From another corner of the auditorium a woman stood up and asked if she could make a point. The preacher smiled and nodded, then she went on to say that the calendars that we use in our eras were not those used in the beginning of recorded births, and that the fact that Jesus was born in a foreign country that didn't record births at all, made it virtually impossible to pinpoint the exact date; however, she stated the stars were clearly out, the Governor of Rome had made it clear that males be counted by a certain time, and that the new year for Jews was going to be taken in a few days after the birth...and therefore, it must have been in April. APRIL?

I wasn't impressed by any of it, because Jesus Himself (with God of course) MADE TIME, made the stars, made the decision to come to our Earth to save US. So, whether or not Jesus was born in B.C. 04 as some say, or 00 as other say, or whether he was born in any of the 12 months given...because Israel at that "time" had 13, it doesn't matter. He was born. The preacher said very little after all the fuss. He raised his candle, lit it from an eternal candle that was burning in the auditorium, and he said "Happy Birthday Jesus, and thanks for the lively discussion about your life. We never have to question your love!" Be blessed on His day...and since every day is His...be blessed always.

My Baby Caity Loves Me!

My Baby Caity loves me!!!

Look what my daughter posted today on My Space!!"From:C A I T Y{gremlin™}[VL][HL]JPK{ttbk}

Date:Dec 24, 2006 7:36 PMSubjectTo this year...

Body: "this is for the woman who told me I was too young to date. She told me when I mature I can. and I thought for a split second I was ready but truth be told, If I ever have another relationship...I wouldn't dare be serious about it. I am too young for depression too young for yelling my lungs out at someone...too young to deal with another life let alone with my own. I am too childish to listen to the other person..I will leave them to be with a dog and I will never listen to their problems...even when I say I am. I cannot be trusted with the slightest of another and I will not put self pity to you. This is to the woman who taught me everything I know to this day(except how to fight..granted, to PVT Stringfellow) Thank you. I understand."

I do understand.....I love you Caity Baby Baby Caity! (Clean your room)

A Mother Asked the President a Question

Why Did My Son Have To Die In Iraq?

This is a statement sent to me. I gladly pass it along.January 10, 2007

A mother asked President Bush, "Why did my son have to die in Iraq?"

Another mother asked President Kennedy,"Why did my son have to die in Viet Nam?"

Another mother asked President Truman,"Why did my son have to die in Korea?

Another mother asked President Roosevelt, "Why did my son have to die at Iwo Jima?"

Another mother asked President Wilson, "Why did my son have to die on the battlefield of France?"

Yet another mother asked President Lincoln, "Why did my son have to die at Gettysburg?"

And yet another mother asked President Washington, "Why did my son have to die near Valley Forge?"

Nearly 2000 years ago a mother asked..."Heavenly Father, why did my Son have to die on a cross outside of Jerusalem?"

The answers to all these are similar"So that others may have life and dwell in peace, happiness and freedom." This was emailed to me with no author and I thought the magnitude and the simplicity were awesome

IF YOU DON'T STAND BEHIND OUR TROOPS, PLEASE, FEEL FREE... TO STAND IN FRONT OF THEM !!!

Cindy Sheehan - Stop disgracing your son, is REMAINS in my eyes, an American Hero!

That Oklahoma Spirit!~

Congratulations to KWTV-9 Sky 9 Helicopter Pilots!

It is awesome to be able to show you what good ol' Oklahoma Spirit really is!In Oklahoma the ice and snow has been so thick and bad that one of our lakes (Thunderbird in Norman, OK) froze over. It didn't freeze too deeply, but deeply enough for a young male deer to walk out and get stranded - think Bambi trying to walk on the lake, remember how he couldn't? The deer was stranded for hours and people grew concerned. Their planning and strategies were frugile, he wouldn't be distracted, and he wouldn't be freed. ENTER KWTV's Sky-9 helicopter! The pilot and crew figured it out! They hovered over the deer and angled their chopper just enough to blow the deer (gently) across the ice in a laying position, to the edge of the rocky shore. Within seconds he was freed, up and running again! Sky-9 then followed the deer a little over a mile to be sure he was OK. He is. Thank you guys!!! You're awesome!!! Way to show that Oklahoma Spirit

My Killing Man!

Ruby Tuesday is a Killer Now! (Let's hope he keeps that in check)

I am so very very proud of Baby Boy (Reuben). He graduated January 26, 2007 from Basic Training and AIT through the rigors of Ft. Knox, Echo Company 281st Batt. 2nd Platoon. He was the best looking kid on stage of course, and out of a couple of hundred bald men, yes - I recognized him immediately. When it came his turn to stand and shout off his name, city, and state he did so very clearly, very proudly, and with the biggest smile. Sgt. Campbell (see pix) told me he was the ONLY soldier smiling in the graduation picture, and that he disobeyed orders to look tough and hard. Laughing, I told the good Sgt. that my son knows I'm the one paying for the picture - he'd better smile. Sgt. Campbell said "Yes, he said that in his defense."

We drove about 900 miles from Oklahoma City to just outside Louisville, KY to see my baby boy walk the stage, do his cadence, be sworn in, and be graduated from the U.S. Army's Basic Training program and his AIT training to become a full fledged tanker. I've learned a great deal about Army life from watching on the sidelines, and from being a part of Reuben's process. I want the very best for him, therefore I actually told his Drill Sgts to rough him up a bit more than the others because he's tough, he's not going to break, and if they didn't push him to the limits they won't get their money's worth. They listened! Reuben is in perfect shape and physical condition, and he's now licensed to kill when someone offends the country or its security. Thanks Drill Sgts. Campbell and Kurtz. (I'm sure there are more to thank, but you two were his favorite)The future is in the hands of the men and women who are brave enough to dedicate their lives, give their bodies and their minds to the service of our countries protection.

It takes a lot of strength and a lot of courage to obey orders. It takes a great deal of discipline, morality, and bravdo to do what you are told to you - and not to make flash decisions on your own that might negatively affect the country, or its citizenry. Thank you to the men and women of our Armed Forces - all of you. Thank you, and Godspeed be with you - His grace, and His mercies. When you return, do so knowing you are loved and honored. If you do not return, go in peace also knowing you are prayed over, loved, and never forgotten.

Dreaming Again!

In reality I went to several stores this week and found a few carvings, metal plates, decorative things that have the word DREAM in script, block lettering, different colors, some really interesting and I'm going to have to pick one or more for my new bedroom - I am dreaming! I am having the best times. Jesus is just so freaking cool to me right now.

Dreaming that you're climbing up the side of a condo that looks so shabby it could be in a sci-fi film is bad enough, but on the way up the wall (yes, up the exterior) I saw myself passing a group of guys about 20-24 years old , partying, playing, having a great time. They lived on the 2nd floor, and they were hanging out the window in buckets being pulled up by their friends while I just kept climbing and climbing. I found a rod to hold on to, a brick, you know. I made it to the window, got in, and there it was: My 5th Avenue Manhattan Apartment's interior. The thought hit me: If I can afford this, why can't I get a ladder?

I often ask myself questions when I'm dreaming. Sort of in a 1/2 state I guess.After I ran around dressing in the apartment I left to go to Hawaii, it was just around the corner in my dream, and like a subway, I took the local beach! Yes, I got on the beach, and sand feet carried me to Hawaii. On the way I saw the ocean waves running (feet again) back and forth from me. The beach waved at me with hands when the water receded. I waved back. I noticed that I was the ONLY person on the beach being rained on but I was not alone. I asked the guy who was suddenly dancing with me, and jumping over the feet and waving hands why he wasn't being rained on. He just smiled that Italian smile, and said "I don't know, you're turn I guess." He was right. After reading 3 separate online dream interpreters I have come to this conclusion about the Ground Hog Day dream - It was clearly after 2:00 a.m. when I had the dream.

INTERPRETATION: I am on my way to the top. I have been poor and shabby for simply far too long. I have been working my butt off to do this sort of thing for years now, and I am passing so many others who tend to laugh, party, and just hang out. I am making something of my life, and I do deserve to be rewarded...IT IS MY TURN Mr. Smiley-Face! You are correct! (Or rather your dream character was - he was really cute too, he was wearing dark khaki pants rolled up, and an open white button down....oh, but I digress). Seeing the interior vs the exterior of my life proved the thoughts of my heart and head vs that of my outward appearance at the moment. Getting dressed and going to Hawaii? Easy - I was preparing myself to relax, to be happy, and to feel at leisure about my new life? Taking the beach to get there? Another easy one: The beach in a dream shows the two states of your mind, your Ego and your Id. They meet. There is harmony with the two, and it's working out. The rain? Oh, I love this! Seeing rain falling is one thing, it shows grace and mercy. But having it fall only on you in a dream symbolizes that you are being cleansed for a reason...I was on my way to relaxation! I'm almost there too. Just a week or so, and my book(s) will be purchased by a top NYC publisher, (Manhattan Apt) and I will be able to be the author I know I was meant to be....am already, but not rewarded for. What an awesome awesome dream. I'm happy to share it with you