Westboro don't want to mess with Georgians!

A threat last Friday, April 15, from the Westboro Baptist church had the public rallying together for one good cause.

20 year-old soldier, Gary Lee Nelson III, lost his life doing what he loved best-defending this great country we call America. However, activists from the Westboro Baptist Church, who are known for protesting funerals of fallen soldiers, wrote on their website that they would be attending the funeral and picketing out in the streets. The funeral was held in Woodstock, GA - my hometown. I was shocked to hear that the Westboro protestors made it to Georgia all the way from Kansas. Citizens of the Woodstock community were asked to show support and block the streets from these activists. The outpouring of people was overwhelming and brought tears to my eyes. It shows just what Gary Lee Nelson fought for and proves his life was not taken in vain.

I don’t think the Phelps family, of the Westboro Baptist Church, expected over 1,000 people to line the streets to show their respect for the fall soldier and keep the Phelps’ away. Westboro never actually showed up; but with the flood of angry Georgians, it was best that they stayed away. It’s the soldiers like Gary that fight for our freedom of speech and give the Westboro activists the right to protest when and where they want. Show some respect Westboro, and let these families grieve in peace. If this was your family, you’d expect the same.

I would also like to add a sidenote: WBC travels the country constantly because they obviously don't have anything better to do.

Canton road block for soldier Gary Lee Neslon III



Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan

I've got something weighing on my heart today. Today, I mourn for Japan after it was struck with an 8.9 magnitude earthquake late last week. It was the fifth largest earthquake in the world since 1900. The damage is beyond devastating and the people of Japan are now dealing with what lies ahead.

They can only wait, at this point, to see what will happen to them and their loved ones. Many people died and many are still missing. It is unfortunate that Japan and it's people were not prepared for the aftershocks and tsunami following the massive earthquake. With the death toll possibly climbing to over 10,000, we can only pray for these people and keep hope that we look ahead to a brighter future.

Photo from google

KH

A Georgia White Christmas

Just thought everyone would like to see what snow in Georgia looks like!! We had a great Christmas when the snow began falling mid-afternoon!

Hope you enjoy.

Frienemies?

So here we are in a new year...2011. What a good year this should be. However....

A fairly new concept in the world is this "Frienemies" word.

I never thought I would have to use it, but recent events might force me to. The concept behind the word is "best friends" that truly are enemies. From my understanding, they are best friends to each other's faces, but behind their backs they talk trash about the other person. I hope my understanding is correct!?

This seems so childish and petty for women in this century. We are supposed to stand behind each other and empower one another. I credit myself for typically getting along well with people due to my easy-going personality. So this is where I don't understand all the women that revolve their lives around gossip and backstabbing.

I have [had] a group of friends that I was extremely close to. This group of friends includes my sister-in-law, who I went to high school with. We've never had luck "sharing" friends for some reason. I love her like my own sister, but we also fight like sisters, or cats and dogs. Her and I are pretty close though; even more so since she gave birth to my nephew last June.

Anyway; we share friends, for the most part. What I don't understand is when we hang out with each other, the other women talk about the people that aren't around. Why is this? Why do we do this women? It infuriates me! Now I will admit, I've gotten caught up in the typical "gossip" before, but I would never want to speak ill of someone I consider my friend.

Recently, I've heard this more often in this group of so-called friends. I try to look past it and make sure I keep quiet, but it's gotten harder not to get defensive for the person who is not around, ya know, stick up for them a bit - especially when it's my sister-in-law.

So I've decided that it's not necessary for these kind of people in my life. While they think that's a good way to live life, being frienemies, I insist that I must move on to bigger and better things. It saddens me to think these people who I loved and considered family will no longer be a part of my life, but I also have to question what they say about me when I'm not around.

The good thing that will come out of this is I will no longer have to worry about stealing any friends from my sister-in-law, and I feel I've matured a bit from these situations. If she wants friends like that, then by all means, take 'em. Until they can move past these actions, I must distance myself. Plus, I've got too much to focus on at school to include myself in their drama parties.

Any input on this? Any women as upset and disgusted by this as much as I am?

When things get rough...

Well hello again everyone! I meant to write again two weeks ago, but here I am slipping behind again. I, like most people, have had it rough lately. I have a fairly new car (new to me) that I did not particularly want, but got it anyway-because it was "a good deal". Who says anything is a good deal anymore with this economy...a good deal is something that is FREE.

Continuing on, it began driving funny and felt like a transmission problem. Well on my way home from work about three weeks ago, the darn thing failed on me. I had a feeling it was going to though. So turns out, the transmission blew up and unfortunately they could not rebuild mine, so I had to pay to get a new, rebuilt one from someone elses' car. Nice huh? So meanwhile, my car is at the shop and I'm heading to Destin, FL for the week. This was the one vacation I got this year, and I wanted to relax and enjoy myself. Unfortunately, when I have a cell phone and laptop and must keep up with work, it was hard to relax. Either way, we ended up having a decent time.
I get home, and school starts...BAM! First week of school=horrible. I had to change my schedule around so much and now I'm slammed with classes. If I am not at school, I'm at work or vice versa. I know this is going to be a tough semester, but I am doing this for a reason, and I must always remind myself of that.

So, yesterday, I get a call from my mother who is at the vet's office right down the street from where I work. Needless to say, this call was not a happy one. I drove as fast as I could to say goodbye to my dog Dingo, that we've had for about 13 years. I am glad I was able to hold her one last time, but I cannot express how sad I am about this situation. She was the greatest dog, and I loved her so much. I am going to miss her tremendously. I, of course, went back to work and tried to make it through the rest of my day.

As if this weren't enough pain for one day, I finally get home and try to calm myself and my chihuahua, Spencer, jumps off the couch, slips on the hardwood floor, and hurts himself. I picked him up and carried him to the bedroom, it has carpet, and tried to see if anything was wrong. He had two stiff, straight back legs and couldn't walk. So here we are driving to the emergency vet who "highly suggested" we bring him in right away. We finally get the diagnosis and head home around 11 p.m. Thankfully, he only had a slight injury to his low back and they expect he will be fine in a week. He is on pain and anti-inflammatory medicine.

So I asked God last night what more can we take? I wanted to go to sleep and wake up from the nightmare that was yesterday. It was then that I reminded myself that it could always be worse. I am very fortunate for the things and people in my life. We must always remember to pray when life gets too hard to handle.

Storm rolling in on the

Destin Coast...

Until next time... KH

A Little About Me

I've been meaning to get a blog set up for about 4 months now, but I've been so extremely busy that I am just getting to it. I am obviously new to this so forgive me for any newbie errors! There are so many things I need to put on my blog, but I will get to that soon, hopefully!

I am currently enrolled in a private liberal arts college and focusing on a communication degree and (broadcast)journalism. Classes start in a week and a half so I am trying to prepare for my 16 credit hour semester. I am so excited for classes to start back though because school is my "safe place". I feel like being there is an escape from everyday life and stresses of work and family. I can always kick back and relax when I am on campus. Everyone there is so creative and artistic, and I have been very fortunate to make some close friends.

I have SO much more to say, but I've got to get dinner on the stove. I will try to keep updating my blog each week with posts and pictures!