Memorial Day

This weekend will be full of people traveling and grilling and spending time with friends and family. And thank goodness because it's summer! I know friends and family that have much anticipated time off coming up and I am so excited for them.

Jared and I just got back from a whirlwind trip up to Washington D.C. He had work stuff up there and so we made a quick trip out of it. We woke up at 3:00 AM to get on a 5:15 AM flight. We were in DC by 9:00 and we ate breakfast at this awesome place called Wicked Waffle. It was SOOO good! And a great way to start out a touring day.

We started by geocaching along the mall. Most caches there are virtuals (can you imagine the potential bomb threats in DC with physical caches?) but it's fun to go to each monument and learn something new. Jared actually showed me a monument I hadn't been to (what???) for the signers of the Declaration of Independence. We also found the point where they measure all the highway miles on the South Side of the White House.

Mile 0!

I love touring DC. I find that each time I go I find a deeper and more mature appreciation for all the Americans that have gone before us to protect our freedom.

My great uncle, who is on the Vietnam Memorial

Hello Mr. Lincoln

Which is why I was a little disheartened by the second half of our touring. 

We went to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. This is one of my FAVORITE places. We got to go look at the gunboat Philadelphia. It was a small boat that helped delay the British from sailing down the Hudson River and split New York from the other colonies. Had this not happened, we wouldn't have had time to raise and train our army to fight in the Revolution. They found it at the bottom of the river 160 years later and brought it to the museum, cannonballs and artifacts and all. It was so incredible to see what these people did back then. And what drove them? This idea that the government did not have the authority to take all their money and dictate their lives.

What was disheartening was the amount of high school students there on field trips that seemed completely disinterested or were talking through the museum spouting incorrect information. It wasn't just the high school students either. While sitting and meditating about the War of 1812 in front of the flag that flew during that battle (one of the most awe inspiring displays ever) there was a mom who came in with her two year old and told him "Look, it's the very first American flag!" 

*Face palm*

I do admire her bringing her toddler to see American History. But I don't know what does more damage...not bringing your kid or teaching them incorrect information. Never mind that she had just walked through the first part of the exhibit explaining the story behind the flag. But apparently she didn't think it was important enough to get her facts straight before teaching her son something. 

I get it. He's two. There's plenty of time to get the record straight. But this instance, combined with several other examples just in the few hours we were touring, just highlighted to me the lack of interest people have for getting their facts straight. It's why political pundits can just spew lies about stats and history and get away with it. Because no one knows if they are telling the truth because they don't know their facts. Apathy is a killer. And it's people's apathy that is going to trap them from their potential as not just Americans, but as humans. 

Americans have built our nation on the ability to identify a problem and create a solution. Then they refine the solutions until it is the best it can be. But I have seen a trend in history where we balked at our ownership of innovation and told the government to take care of it. That's not the government's job and that's why it fails at many of the things it tries to do (Obamacare website perhaps as one of many examples?). 

While standing in the Lincoln Memorial, I always take time to stand and read the Gettysburg Address engraved on the side of the building. Something stood out to me this time. While standing at this site where so many Americans died, he said there's nothing we, the living, can do to add or subtract from this consecrated ground. Whether or not we dedicate this space makes no difference because the blood spilt makes it a sacred place. Rather, it is us, the ones alive, who should dedicate ourselves to finish the work they started. 

So this Memorial Day, I want to take the time to rededicate myself to the work that so many Americans have started. I'm killing apathy instead of letting it kill me. I want to help make sure that the ideas the Founding Fathers used to create this nation stand. We are nation with a government by the people and for the people. Not a government where some people can bully other people into submission. Not a government where we take more of your money to reward those who break the law or don't work. Not a government where we shame you for being "politically incorrect." Rather, we can, and should be, a government that gets out of your life and allows you to build things that benefits  people. Because American history has shown that when Americans succeed, the whole world benefits.

I'm taking time to do that today. I hope you do too. And God bless America so that we may become who we originally set out to be. 

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Abraham Lincoln

November 19, 1863

Serial Saturday: Communism

So one of the things that I have been very impressed with on my new subscription to "The Blaze TV" is their "serial" series. They discuss different topics and the history behind them. I don't know about everyone else. But in every history class I ever took we spent ages on years 1600-1950 and then crammed 1950-1990 into one day. So much happened during that time that directly affects us today and I have no idea what went on. Additionally, no one really taught about communism vs. capitalism in depth. No one explained progressivism to me. No one was unbiased enough to just give me the fact straight on.

There is never an unbiased agenda in the news but the thing with Glenn Beck is I feel like I know his bias. He doesn't hide it so I can take anything he says with the appropriate grain of salt. But I have found these serials he has been doing to be really helpful in understanding that recent history that I never got to study in depth.

Hope you enjoy.

Today's serial discusses the history of Communism. Even if you had to read Animal Farm, this might be a helpful history lesson on what has shaped much of history over the last hundred years.

Serial Saturday: Black American Founders

So one of the things that I have been very impressed with on my new subscription to "The Blaze TV" is their "serial" series. They discuss different topics and the history behind them. I don't know about everyone else. But in every history class I ever took we spent ages on years 1600-1950 and then crammed 1950-1990 into one day. So much happened during that time that directly affects us today and I have no idea what went on. Additionally, no one really taught about communism vs. capitalism in depth. No one explained progressivism to me. No one was unbiased enough to just give me the fact straight on.

There is never an unbiased agenda in the news but the thing with Glenn Beck is I feel like I know his bias. He doesn't hide it so I can take anything he says with the appropriate grain of salt. But I have found these serials he has been doing to be really helpful in understanding that recent history that I never got to study in depth.

Hope you enjoy.

Today's serial was from last February celebrating Black American History Month. While everyone focuses on Martin Luther King, I had never heard of many of these black American founders until now. I loved hearing their stories and found them truly inspiring.

Serial Saturday: Elections That Shaped America

So one of the things that I have been very impressed with on my new subscription to "The Blaze TV" is their "serial" series. They discuss different topics and the history behind them. I don't know about everyone else. But in every history class I ever took we spent ages on years 1600-1950 and then crammed 1950-1990 into one day. So much happened during that time that directly affects us today and I have no idea what went on. Additionally, no one really taught about communism vs. capitalism in depth. No one explained progressivism to me. No one was unbiased enough to just give me the fact straight on.

There is never an unbiased agenda in the news but the thing with Glenn Beck is I feel like I know his bias. He doesn't hide it so I can take anything he says with the appropriate grain of salt. But I have found these serials he has been doing to be really helpful in understanding that recent history that I never got to study in depth.

Hope you enjoy.

Today's serial goes through some of the biggest elections in how they shaped America. It helps document how progressivism has slowly taken over in both Democratic and Republican parties and defines what it's purpose is.

Movie Review: Zootopia!

This week Jared and I went out to see Zootopia! It's been on our list for a while. But if you know me, I can barely stand going to see a movie when I know it's nice outside. Low and behold a rainy day came and we made our way out to our local movie theatre for an afternoon showing.

Now, to give a review without a spoiler...

The premise of the movie is that Judy Hopps wants to be a police officer. Thing is, bunnies don't become cops. So her whole career is mostly trying to prove everyone wrong.

Judy unsuccessfully trying to make friends.

On the other hand, there is Nick who is a sly fox and lives up to societies standards that no one can trust a fox.

The two end up working together when Judy is assigned a case that her career as a police officer rides on. 

The great message of this movie is that society tries to bunch us together. Bunnies do this, foxes do that, zebras do this, etc. But for much of the movie animals wrestle with this. Do they go for it and break out of the stereotype and chase their dreams? Or do they concede and become who society tells them to be? 

In a day and age where many of us are grouped and labeled and those labels are used to divide us, this movie couldn't be more timely. Whether we group ourselves by race, faith or political views, many loud platforms try to then take these differing groups and pit us against each other. Why? Political gain, news ratings, who knows what goes on in our hearts to motivate this. However, it is so interesting that we can take a "kids movie" to gain perspective on what's going on in our society. We have gotten to a point where we are so divided we don't talk to anyone of an "opposite label" because we want to avoid the confrontation we are told we are supposed to have.

While life has kinda beat me into a realist, I can't help but hold on to a little bit of idealist that still lives inside of me. I know not everyone is going to believe the same things that I do. But I do believe we can still respect each other not despite, but because of our differing views. 

So as the title song goes for this movie, "I won't give up and I won't give in." "I wanna try even though I could fail."

Trying even though you may fail and make mistakes, is one of the purest forms of courage. 

Serial Saturday: Milton Friedman

So one of the things that I have been very impressed with on my new subscription to "The Blaze TV" is their "serial" series. They discuss different topics and the history behind them. I don't know about everyone else. But in every history class I ever took we spent ages on years 1600-1950 and then crammed 1950-1990 into one day. So much happened during that time that directly affects us today and I have no idea what went on. Additionally, no one really taught about communism vs. capitalism in depth. No one explained progressivism to me. No one was unbiased enough to just give me the fact straight on.

There is never an unbiased agenda in the news but the thing with Glenn Beck is I feel like I know his bias. He doesn't hide it so I can take anything he says with the appropriate grain of salt. But I have found these serials he has been doing to be really helpful in understanding that recent history that I never got to study in depth.

Hope you enjoy.

Today's serial is about Milton Friedman, a man I never knew existed until I listened to these serials. What he says about capitalism strikes a chord with me. However, the way he calmly explains his viewpoints to his dissenters speaks even more to me. I think we can learn a ton through his example on how to deal with conflict in a healthy manner.

Serial Saturday: History of Taxes

So one of the things that I have been very impressed with on my new subscription to "The Blaze TV" is their "serial" series. They discuss different topics and the history behind them. I don't know about everyone else. But in every history class I ever took we spent ages on years 1600-1950 and then crammed 1950-1990 into one day. So much happened during that time that directly affects us today and I have no idea what went on. Additionally, no one really taught about communism vs. capitalism in depth. No one explained progressivism to me. No one was unbiased enough to just give me the fact straight on.

There is never an unbiased agenda in the news but the thing with Glenn Beck is I feel like I know his bias. He doesn't hide it so I can take anything he says with the appropriate grain of salt. But I have found these serials he has been doing to be really helpful in understanding that recent history that I never got to study in depth.

Hope you enjoy.

Today's serial is about the history of taxes in America. Thought it would be appropriate with Monday looming ahead.

Giving Up Control

Control is a weird word. It also bring up some interesting emotional responses in people.

But, let's face it, we all like to have control over things. We like to control what we watch and when we watch it...so we invented the DVR. We like to control traffic and our commute to work so the app Waze was created. We like to control our news feed on Facebook, our news stories, our podcasts...we have phones that allow us to customize it exactly how we want it!

I'm sure it's just me. But maybe someone else might try to control other people around them sometimes...

We like to be able to predict what is going to happen around us and make sure that it comes out in our favor. It's human nature. We try to control others but don't like to be controlled by other people. But many times, when we try to gain control of our situation, we end up losing control of the situation. It's a mix-mashed bag of crazy.

We need to learn how to give up control.

I deal with having to learn to give up control on a daily basis. I'm pretty sure God had me marry a pilot just to break me of my planning habit. I like to plan YEARS in advance when it comes to events and trips. He's been on reserve for way longer than expected and I can never plan for 100% until the month before. It drives me NUTS.

Not to mention, I get to deal with Jared on a daily basis. I'm sure I get frustrated over his decisions sometimes just as much as he gets frustrated over mine. :)

Then, God gave me in interns at work. I know that I need to let them work on their own projects so that they can learn and grow, even from mistakes. Micromanaging won't help. But it's my instinct to make sure every detail is in place!

Then, God gave me the women I work with. Emergencies happen without any warning. You can't plan for emergencies in your schedule and you have to just go with the flow when the needs arise.

Then, God gave me Obama. Everything seems to be going down the drain. I shake my head as I see other people in my generation not caring about politics or the ways in which our government affects our daily lives. Yet, I can't control how people think, vote, or pay attention.

The good news is, I have plenty of opportunity to practice giving up control. What's awesome is that this last weekend in FC Kids, we learned that God is so powerful that he controls everything in the universe. He controls the stars, the blood moon we just got to witness, the things in the ocean, the storms, EVERYTHING! And yet, the one thing he gave up control on was us. He gave up the control to make us worship him. He gave us a choice. His biggest act of love for us was to give us free will. To choose to accept him as Christ or not.

Our biggest act of love sometimes is to give up control of certain situations where we try to control everyone else. My biggest act of love to Jared is to not try to control his likes, habits, schedule, etc. I can really help my interns by not micromanaging. I can't make my sparrows choose wisely...I have to love them enough to know God's going to work all things in their life for his glory. I can't control what happens in my government or what people think. In fact, I think many of our problems would be solved if people just stopped trying to control one another.

What we don't realize though, is that while we are anxious about giving up control, this is the very thing that will help release us from anxiety. When we pray and give up control over something to God, it's a peaceful, calming feeling knowing that he is going to take it over. It only gets stronger the more and more we experience God coming through for us. If we know that God is all powerful and has control over everything, why don't we trust him with it?

So as you go about your weekend today, I hope that this little bit of musing can help you trust God with whatever is going on in your life. After all...we know that we are supposed to be just...

LETTING IT GO!

Hope With No Shame

Recently, I've had to completely stop listening to some of the news podcasts I listen to. The message is the same.

"America is going to crap unless Americans wake up and do something about it."
"American's are stupid. So, therefore, we are all doomed."

And that's the basic "jist"
of hours of talk radio. So if you don't listen to talk radio, you aren't missing much.

The whole thing sounds very similar to a Psalm I just read:

Psalm 12:1-4

Deliver, Lord!
For the godly have disappeared; 
people of integrity have vanished. 
People lie to one another;
they flatter and deceive. 
May the Lord cut off all flattering lips,
and the tongue that boasts!
They say, “We speak persuasively; 
we know how to flatter and boast. 
Who is our master?”

In fact, we sound a ton like the Romans as Paul describes them in chapter 1:28-32

And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them.

So then why should I have hope in the future? People that I talk to about human trafficking, abortion or any other major issue in our society don't seem to want to respond and take action against all that is going on.

Well, thankfully, Paul gives us an example of what we can do through Abraham in Romans chapter 4.

Abraham was asked to leave his home and go somewhere were he was a stranger. I identify with this because sometimes I feel like a stranger to my generation. Then God made him a promise that he was going to have a son, despite that biologically, it made no sense to him or his wife. Yet Paul says that Abraham "In hope, he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, 'So shall your offspring be.'" We see that Abraham was "fully convinced that God was able to do what he had promised."

So the question for myself is, when I feel like a stranger in my own generation with a promise that God has given me, do I hope against all hope that when everything is stacked against me that God will provide all that is necessary for His promise to come true?

You see, I can come up with all the programs and ideas in the world and work really hard for them to work. Yet nothing is going to be able to happen if I do not have faith that God will work everything out in his timing. It's not going to be easy (just look at Abraham's life...not comfy!) but his faith was counted to him as righteousness. Not his works.

Paul continues, "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us."

Many people might think we are foolish to look at all that is happening in our world and pin all our hopes to God. He doesn't seem to be here with all of the evil that is happening in our generation. But what people don't see is all the times we have put our faith in God in our personal lives and the times he has come through for us. Every time I try to make something happen, it fails and God brings the same result around another way. EVERY TIME.

So while we live in a season of our generation where we are lost, let's continue to have the faith that God desires us to have so that we can learn to trust in him more and more. Our hope isn't in vain. It's so that God's love for us can be manifested in a way that allows us to love him more!

Geocaching Road Trip to Kansas!

One of the reasons this summer was crazy was because Jared and I attended one graduation and four weddings in the span of three months. And most of them were across the country. So cue on of the biggest items on the list...a road trip to Colby, Kansas.

Now this wouldn't have been a big deal except for the fact that the longest road trip I had ever been on was from Dallas to San Antonio. So the twelve hour trek for us was certainly going to put my patience to the test.

Are we there yet?

Of course, we made the trip fun and geocached the whole way up and the whole way down, visiting some of the places we have wanted to visit for a while now. First stop, OKC!

This was a virtual geocache at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial.

It was so beautiful and quiet in the middle of the city.
Finally checked this off the bucket list.

The next logical stop for us was in Wichita, KS. We stopped for food and checked out some of the downtown area. It was very quiet and deserted for some reason. Almost felt like a ghost town except for the random statues of people and animals all around the plazas. We found some awesome and unique historical landmarks while finding our caches.

Travel pooch was not excited about meeting another "dog."
She said he was such a poser!

 Finally, we were able to get to our destination...Colby, KS! It was a cool morning as we did our long run and we checked out downtown Colby and it's unique buildings and monuments.

I guest that means there's liberty here right?

One of the "Oh My Goodness!" moments that happened while we were planning this trip was the fact that I had been listening to Podcacher right before this trip and they mentioned MINGO, the oldest surviving cache in the world. As I was planning our trip, lo and behold I found out MINGO was just outside the city we were visiting!

Cue fanfare!

So cool to be able to check this one off the geocaching list and add it to our favorites!

On the way back, we visited a few other notable caches.

Found this one at an old F14 off the highway.

Earthcache at a rest stop.

Final Earthcache in Oklahoma.

Somewhere over that hill is Texas!

While I definitely had the patience of a two year old on this trip while traveling in the car, it was so interesting to travel across the country like this. I pretty much always fly anywhere (hello...pilot's wife) and so getting to see the places I fly over from the ground was eye opening. Our country is BIG and filled with so many cool people.

Also, the cool thing I got to learn how to use was the geocaching road trip planner. It's a part of the premium membership, but this one tool alone was worth the cost of the yearly membership. We were able to search along the route we were going to take and sort based on location and favorite points. We found so many cool caches and were able to visit some amazing places we would never have known about otherwise. And that, is why we love caching so much in the first place.

We had a great trip, but I am so glad to be back in the best state in the Union...Texas!

The Power of Social Media

Courtesy of...you guessed it...Facebook! 

In the past, I have frequently belittled people for "just" posting on social media about social justice issues. I've talked about how just drawing a red X on your hand and posting a photo of it wasn't doing much for the actual victims of human trafficking that I work with every day. And to a certain extent, that's true. However, a few things have happened that have made me take a step back and rethink how I view social media and it's role in our society today.

This last month I feel like I am now just able to come up to breathe after a very long dive underwater. I got to catch up on the DVR a little bit and checked out the presidential debates that happened last week. While the political theatre was fun, it wasn't the policies that the candidates put forth that struck me the most. In fact, it really wasn't the candidates themselves that stuck out to me at all (which might be a different blog post in the future). What stuck out to me was the fact that this was the Fox News Debate PARTNERED WITH FACEBOOK. You couldn't look anywhere on the screen without seeing the little blue box with the "F" in the center. The mediators were bringing up questions that people had posted to Facebook specifically so that they might be asked to the candidates in the debate. Statistics and graphics showed what people were talking about the most and where in the country people were talking about specific hot topics. It was crazy. Honestly, I don't know why we need the NSA anymore if we can glean all this information just by what people are posting on social media.

However, it was interesting to me that Fox News, arguably the biggest news network on cable television (The Blaze doesn't count since they are blocked out of cable politically right now) is driving their subjects and questions based on what people are saying on Facebook. That speaks volumes about the news media today.

Many people, including myself, have blamed the media for not reporting well. "Well" can mean many things to different people. But overall, there seems to be a consensus that the media uses their own agenda and platform to try to influence public opinion. This has driven people away from watching the news because they don't want to deal with it any more. Now, many people get their news from...you guessed it...Facebook. If I had a nickel for every time somebody started a conversation this last week with "did you see on Facebook?" I would be able to buy me a new Go Pro!

On that note, can we also count all the times false stories have been sensationalized and shared on social media simply because a catchy title and a photo causes people to have a strong emotion towards it and make them want to share it on Facebook without fact checking it? It's done over and over again. Cecil the lion is a great example. The public outcry for a lion no one knew existed becomes an overnight sensation on Facebook while no one shares the planned parenthood videos because no one "wants to see that. It's too overwhelming." What's overwhelming is people's lack of passion for what's going on in our society. We would rather talk about if a dress is blue and black or white and gold instead of talking with our friends about the babies being mutilated next door to us.

I understand it's not pleasant. I have a hard time accepting the reality of human trafficking sometimes, and I work with it on a daily basis!! Many times I want to just live in a nice, happy Disney-fied world where magical things happen every day. But the reality is, we won't be able to enjoy feeling like Princesses when we have nukes pointed at our front porch or terrorists blowing up our buildings. We won't be able to afford Blue Bell if we have no money because we have to pay off a huge national debt. I know these are extreme cases, but they are possible if we head down this road and ignore the unpleasant things because we would rather talk about cat videos and pictures of cute hedgehogs with funny memes.

While I'm talking to myself as much as I am to my friends, there is hope for us. If Fox News is getting their ideas and leads on what to report from social media, what does that say about our influence in what society talks about?? We all now have an amazing ability to help shape our society just by clicking "post" or "tweet." We can influence what other people see just by sharing. But, just like Spiderman, "with great power comes great responsibility." While it's certainly fun to share dogs doing funny things, we have a responsibility to talk about important issues that we must address. What's cool is you don't even have to get out of your pajamas to do it. However, we have to provide a united effort to actively discuss and share ideas in order for them to get seen and shared by others.

However, this should be easy for us right? We are the UNITED States of America. Ok yes, we can insert a sarcastic meme here. As one of the candidates said on the debate, we are more like the Divided States of America right now. But we really need to change that. Instead of being polarizing arguers when we discuss politics or social concerns, we need to be active listeners and respectful debaters. If we can calmly discuss these issues, we can certainly come out the other side better people having listened to the opposing argument and expressed our ideas. Are we going to agree on everything? Heck no! But we have to have the conversation without ending up hating the other person.

So, therefore, yes. I have come to the conclusion that drawing an X on your hand and posting to social media has some merit. Sharing stuff on social media helps bring light to issues needed to be discussed. Then if you want to get the gold star, you would find a way to input your ideas and beliefs into your actions on a daily basis. If it's to stop planned parenthood, find a way to help adoption agencies. If you want to change a policy, contact your congress representative and let them know. If you want to fight human trafficking, I might be able to hook you up with a pretty awesome non-profit...

But ultimately, stand firm and united with your fellow American. Don't you think it's interesting that in order to gain more power, the current leaders in Washington D.C. have sought to divide us? All the more should we not see our neighbor as an enemy, despite their politics. Instead, we should treat everyone with respect and love them as humans.

Use your platform. Stand united. Love your neighbor.

Then we can enjoy those dub-smash videos in peace!