busy busy!

Wow, it's been quite awhile since I updated everyone on my life...

I actually just finished packing 3 large suitcases to check, and two carry-ons for my flight to Maryland tomorrow. The beauty of Southwest airlines, 2 free checked + 2 free carry-ons! My third checked bag is only $25 $50 (as of June 17th evidently...lame). This is a definite helper in my moving expedition across the country =)

So aside from getting to see Quinn tomorrow evening, Yay!! I have been wedding planning and thankfully getting to hang out with friends the past week and a half.

Last Monday was a beautiful night with Steph and Phil... here's why:Yep, she's sporting a lovely diamond ring there. Happily engaged for 5min =)

Tuesday during the day I went to Ikea with Kim and the kiddos... I only bought tupperware! AND it was to replace my mom's since I used it to pack all my stained glass... That night I went to see the opening of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen with the girls (Rae, April, Carly, Sam, and Elyse). AMAZING- I don't care what the critics say.

Stephanie, Sarah, and I attended a preview show last Wednesday at Tre Bella:You can read about it here.

Thursday I enjoyed lunch with Tena before his job interview with Eyemaster's (I hope you get it!) then headed to Target to buy spacebags and other essentials for packing.

Saturday I got to hang out with Kim (+Elli & Zeke), Sam, and Carly at As You Wish, I played baby-sitter so the girls could paint. All of their creations looked amazing. It was good I didn't pain considering the amount of crap I'm trying to move to Maryland.

Sunday Mom, Alexis and I visited Madison Baptist Church to hear JD speak then go out to lunch with them. I also had the opportunity to talk to JD about pre-marital counseling items.

Yesterday was Rae's birthday, we had fun eating and playing battle of sexes. Hahaha!

I finished ALL of my wedding invitations (with help from Ashley and my mom on Friday, Sunday, and Monday)!!! Such a relief, they went to the post office today. After dropping them off, I headed over to the Cylwik's house... April has done an amazing job transforming it from the former XA Guy's House! =) We met her hubby Eric at Taco Bell for lunch, then went to her parents house where I helped her load all of her clothes into her car to take home with her.

Children Sing Praises for Obama... terrifying.

Most people never truly learn from history, they just assume things change for the better... If you do not read through this whole thing, please do not comment. Also, don't get so focused on one specific point that you miss the over all warning of Ms. Kalner... I'm sure I'll get terrible comments for posting this, called names, called naive, etc. I don't care. Think.
-Taylor

Hymn to Hitler

The Election November 2008

A Warning

The following is a letter from Lori Kalner, an old German Christian lady who lived through Hitler, Nazism...WWII. She warns Christians and Jews that history is about to repeat itself! It's a bit long, but well worth the read. She writes:

In Germany, when Hitler came to power, it was a time of terrible financial depression. Money was worth nothing. In Germany, people lost homes and jobs, just like in the American Depression in the 1930s, which we have read about in Bodie Thoene's Shiloh books. In those days, in my homeland, Adolph Hitler was elected to power by promising "Change."

He blamed the Zionists around the world for all our problems. He told everyone it was greedy Zionist Bankers who had caused every problem we had. He promised when he was leader, the greedy Zionist bankers would be punished. The Zionists, he promised, would be wiped off the face of the earth.

So Hitler was elected to power by only 1/3 of the popular vote. A coalition of other political parties in parliament made him supreme leader. Then, when he was leader, he disgraced and expelled everyone in parliament who did not go along with him.

Yes. Change came to my homeland as the new leader promised it would.

The teachers in German schools began to teach the children to sing songs in praise of Hitler. This was the beginning of the Hitler Youth movement. It began with praise of the Fuhrer's programs on the lips of innocent children. Hymns in praise of Hitler and his programs were being sung in the schoolrooms and in the play yard. Little girls and boys joined hands and sang these songs as they walked home from school.

My brother came home and told Papa what was happening at school. The political hymns of children proclaimed Change was coming to our homeland and the Fuhrer was a leader we could trust.

I will never forget my father's face. Grief and fear. He knew that the best propaganda of the Nazis was song on the lips of little children.

That evening before he said grace at the dinner table, he placed his hands upon the heads of my brothers and me and prayed the Living Word upon us from Jeremiah 1:4-5,

"Now the Word of the Lord came to me, saying, Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations."

Soon the children's songs praising the Fuhrer were heard everywhere on the streets and over the radio. "With our Fuhrer to lead us, we can do it! We can change the world!"

Soon after that Papa, a pastor, was turned away from visiting elderly parishioners in hospitals. The people he had come to bring comfort of God's Word, were "no longer there."

Where had they vanished to while under nationalized health care? It became an open secret. The elderly and sick began to disappear from hospitals feet first as "mercy killing" became the policy. Children with disabilities and those who had Down Syndrome were euthanized.

People whispered, "Maybe it is better for them now. Put them out of misery. They are no longer suffering...And, of course, their death is better for the treasury of our nation. Our taxes no longer must be spent to care for such a burden."

And so murder was called mercy.

The government took over private business. Industry and health care were "nationalized." (NA-ZI means National Socialist Party) The businesses of all Jews were seized. (Perhaps you remember our story in Berlin on Krystalnacht in the book Munich Signature)

The world and God's word were turned upside down. Hitler promised the people economic Change?

Not change. It was, rather, Lucifer's very ancient Delusion leading to Destruction.

What began with the propaganda of children singing a catchy tune ended in the deaths of millions of children. The reality of what came upon us is so horrible that you in this present generation cannot imagine it.

Our suffering is too great to ever tell in a book or show in a black and white newsreel.

When I spoke to Bodie Thoene about some of these things, she wept and said she could not bear to write them. Perhaps one day she will, but I asked her, "Who could bear to read our suffering?"

Yet with my last breaths I warn every Christian and Jew now in the name of the Lord, unless your course of the church in America is spiritually changed now, returning to the Lord, there are new horrors yet to come.

I trembled last night when I heard the voices of American children raised in song, praising the name of Obama, the charismatic fellow who claims he is the American Messiah.

Yet I have heard what this man Obama says about abortion and the "mercy killing" of tiny babies who are not wanted.

There are so few of us left to warn you. I have heard that there are 69 million Catholics in America and 70 million Evangelical Christians. Where are your voices? Where is your outrage? Where is passion and your vote?

Do you vote based on an abortionist's empty promises and economics? Or do you vote according to the Bible?

Thus says the Lord about every living child still in the womb,

"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you."

I have experienced the signs of the politics of Death in my youth. I see them again now. Christians! Unless you stand up now, you will lose your freedom of religion.

In America, priests and preachers have already lost their freedom to speak openly from their pulpits of moral danger in political candidates. They cannot legally instruct you of which candidate holds fast to the precepts of Scripture! American law forbids this freedom of speech to conservative pastors or they will lose their "tax exempt" status.

And yet I have heard the words of Obama's pastor damning America! I have heard the words of Obama damning and mocking all of you in small towns because you "Cling to your religion..."

But I am a woman whose name is unknown. My life is recorded as a work of fiction. I have no fear of reprisal when I speak truth to you from the pages of a book. (Though the Zion Covenant books are mocked and condemned by the Left in America.)

I am an old woman and will soon go to be with my Lord. I have no fear for myself, but for all of you and for your children, I tremble.

I tremble at the hymns to a political leaders which your children will sing at school. (Though even now a hymn or a prayer to God and our Lord Jesus is against the law in public school!)

Your vote must put a stop to what will come upon America if Barack Obama is elected.

I pray you will personally heed this warning for the sake of your children and your grandchildren. Do not be deceived.

The Lord in Jeremiah 1:7-8 commands every believer to speak up!

"Do not say, I am only a youth, for to all whom I send you, you shall go, and whatever I command you, you shall speak. Do not be afraid of them for I am with you, declares the Lord!"

I am in prayer for you, and for the Church!

Spoken to you in the authority of Jesus the Christ, the Name Above All Names,
-Lori Kalner

Links to check out:

1. http://www.faithfreedom.org/obama.html
2. http://www.globalpolitician.com/25109-barack-obama-elections
3. http://www.healthline.com/galecontent/narcissism?utm_term=narcissism&utm_medium=mw&utm_campaign=article
4. http://sbynews.blogspot.com/2009/02/repeat-of-warning-on-socialism-in.html
5. http://factcheck.org
   

He's a blessing

I am so blessed to have Quinn in my life, and even more blessed that I will become his wife in 4mo. Life with him definitely won't be easy, but it's moments like last night that assure me that we'll get through.This weekend he's a DI for the Young Marines boot camp. Evidently he had the night shift and was given an hour to catch a quick cat-nap. Instead- he calls me (around 1am, mind you, that is 4am his time...and he was back to work at 5am).

I quickly dissolved into tears, saying how much I missed him, and obviously he could tell something was wrong. I told him how I felt like all the people I cared about, and put effort into our friendships were drifting away. He reassured me that things were going to be okay and that people change, esp. in situations such as graduating from college, moving, or getting engaged. He said those who truly love you will be there and make time for you, and that other people are in our lives for a short time, but we can't forget that we did impact their lives in some way.

He then asked me what one of our commandments was... which sent chills through me because I immediately knew what he was talking about: "Love your neighbor as yourself" -Matthew 22:39. Just because we don't feel loved by others doesn't give us reason to give up completely or stop showing them our love...

alone

I realize I’m wedding planning… I realize I am going to be married in 4 months… I realize I’m going to live far away (again)… but I don’t feel it’s necessary for me to feel isolated.

Lately all I’ve been doing is hanging out with my family (not that I mind that, since it will become rare in the near future =/), doing crafty projects, tying up wedding plans, or shopping… alone.

If there is one thing in this world I do not like, it is being alone when I don’t have to be. If it’s by my choice of course, but lately it hasn’t been. I know people work, I know people have boyfriends, fiancés, husbands, family nights, etc… but you also hang out with friends. I feel left out. I feel like I’m losing my friends. I don’t like it.

I also am beginning to dread talking to people, because the first question out of their mouth is always: "How's the wedding planning going?" Not, "Hi Taylor, how are you doing today?" "What have you been up to lately," ...maybe I'm asking too much.

Sorry for my rant.

creativity [block]

I've been in such a creative mood lately! I should really start a book of all the ideas I have running through my head. Especially since at the moment I have about a bajillion ideas for craft projects, about the same for baking items, and then the perfect, and I mean perfect idea for a baby shower...

Problems:
-I packed away all of my crafting supplies (minus scrap-booking stuff) for the move
-It's too hot to bake, and I have nothing to bake for =/
-I'm not sure someone would pay me the decorating costs for the baby shower (ugh, it is INSANELY cute though...and I would do it as cheap as possible, come-on...you all know me.)

In other news, Quinn and I finally found a photographer for our wedding! He's amazing, I should be meeting with him in 2wks. Check him out: Daniel Kim Photography

I actually worked yesterday, it felt so good! Even the completely exhausted, my feet are sore, and my muscles ache from the intense set-up, event facilitation and tear-down. Yeah, 10hrs straight on my feet. It's okay. The event was amazing- Honeywell's Harry Potter Themed Family Night, with 800+ attendees. [if they ever post pictures I'll try to add a link here]

I work again tonight, not as long though. It's an event I've done multiple times, however they are always extremely fun. Salsa Margarita Contest. Where each team must create a salsa, margarita, container label and slogan (commercial) for their products. Then they are judged on product quality and creativity. Fun? I think so! ...plus I get to taste all the salsa!

orange groves

Driving home from Ashley's at around 1am, I rolled down all my windows and turned up the music. It was a beautiful night... and when I leave AZ I will definitely miss the sensation of driving through the orange groves and having the temperature drop 15-20* ...ahhh.

The song I ended up listening to was "Dead and Gone," I don't like the song other than the chorus...

Oh, I've been travelin' on this road too long,
Just tryin' find my way back home,
But the old me's dead and gone,
Dead and Gone,
Oh, I've been travelin' on this road too long,
Just tryin find my way back home,
But the old me's and gone,
Dead and Gone.

I started thinking about how much I've changed over the years. I'm glad to say the majority of the changes are positive, and of course the best change is having the Lord in my life. Many more changes are to come... marriage, moving away from AZ, surviving deployments, living with military moves, new jobs, and more.

Life's an adventure, and mine is about to take another turn. =)

Blind Faith

Yesterday as I was driving to my friend's "welcome back" party... I witnessed something I had never seen before.

A father and son riding their bikes together. Not so climatic.
Here's the kicker. The son was blind!

They rode along together, the son pedaling his own bike, with one arm firmly grasped to his father's riding along side of him. The son couldn't see where he was going, but had faith that with his father's leading no harm would come his way. I want a faith like that.

I had an incredible urge to pull a u-turn and just follow them, but seeing as that would be insanely stalker-ish, not to mention just plain creepy my instinct told me "no." I wanted to so badly.

It was such a beautiful picture of true faith. The son (such as you and I) cannot see what lies ahead. The father rides alongside at all times looking forward knowing what's to come, needing us only to reach out to HIM for guidance. There is no guarantee that the road will always be smooth, that a car won't pull out too quickly in front of the son, that the unthinkable could happen. But a faith like that, is possible...

[photo from flickr]

"For we walk by faith, not by sight." --2 Corinthians 5:7