I went swimming all day Monday and Tuesday. I put sunscreen on...lots of times..almost every time I got out of the pool, and yet I still get burned!!! So far I've tried aloe vera gel, but some say that just clogs the pores and keeps the heat in. I've tried the oatmeal bath...that just made a mess of my bath tub. I've tried the vinegar and water bath...and now I just smell like a freshly dyed easter egg. Any tips?
OUCH!!!
(I'm not putting this emoticon because I'm blushing...it's cause I'm that RED!!!)
I had tons of fun this weekend. It was definately bittersweet! I just wanted to show you some pictures!! This is my sister and I before we donated 10 inches of our hair to Locks of Love. During my sister's chop. During my chop! This was after, but before the hair stylist evened things out. This is a picture of the whole family while we were there all gussied up! This is a picture of the majority service. Aww! So sad!!!!!!!!!!! My sister and I!!! Thanks for all your wishes! I hope you all had a great weekend!!!!!!!! ~Sarah~
I'm leaving tomorrow to attend my last Grand Assembly. I have been involved with this organization (International Order of the Rainbow for Girls....see post on March 13, 2007) for over ten years now.
What I have a learned from Rainbow? I have learned to love with no bounds. I have learned that no matter what religion I chose, God will love me nonetheless. I have learned to be aware and take care of Nature. I have learned that my body may die, but my sould is immortal. I have learned to be faithful to my parents, home, and nation. I have learned to have a great sense of patriotism. I have learned to lead a life full of service. I have learned to be respectful of other people, they'll treat you the same(nine times out of ten). I have learned to be thankful for what you have, there are some people out there who don't have as much. I have learned that there is always someone out there who loves you, and who is rooting for you. I have learned that family doesn't mean blood related. I have learned that life gets tough, but perserverence will get you through it. I have learned that by being yourself and being confident in yourself, you will make more friends than if you pretend to be something you're not. I have learned to be careful of your actions, there is always someone who looks up to you and you don't want to let them down.
Looking ahead at the next ten years, I promise to carry all that I have learned into the future. I know someday, when I have a little girl of my own, I hope that she too will join Rainbow Girls so she can learn as much as I have learned.
My sister and I wrote this for the girls and adults at our last meeting... "We just want you to know how blessed we are to have you all in our lifes. Words cannot express how much you mean to us. You will always hold a speical place in our hearts. Thank you so much for all you have given us. The memories, the laughter, the tears, the love, and most of all the family."
This isn't just goodbye, it's a new beginning. So here's my wish to you girls.....
I hope that the days come easy and the moments pass slow, And each road leads you where you want to go, And if you're faced with a choice, and you have to choose, I hope you choose the one that means the most to you. And if one door opens to another door closed, I hope you keep on walkin' till you find the window, If it's cold outside, show the world the warmth of your smile,
But more than anything, more than anything, My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to, Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small, You never need to carry more than you can hold, And while you're out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too, Yeah, this, is my wish.
I hope you never look back, but ya never forget, All the ones who love you, in the place you left, I hope you always forgive, and you never regret, And you help somebody every chance you get, Oh, you find God's grace, in every mistake, And you always give more than you take.
But more than anything, yeah, and more than anything, My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you want it to, Your dreams stay big, and your worries stay small, You never need to carry more than you can hold, And while you're out there getting where you're getting to, I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the same things too, Yeah, this, is my wish.
This is my wish I hope you know somebody loves you May all your dreams stay big
A cold March wind danced around the dead of night in Dallas as the doctor walked into the small hospital room of Diana Blessing. She was still groggy from surgery.
Her husband, David, held her hand as they braced themselves for the latest news.
That afternoon of March 10, 1991, complications had forced Diana, only 24-weeks pregnant, to undergo an emergency Cesarean to deliver couple's new daughter, Dana Lu Blessing.
At 12 inches long and weighing only one pound nine ounces, they already knew she was perilously premature.
Still, the doctor's soft words dropped like bombs.
"I don't think she's going to make it," he said, as kindly as he could.
"There's only a 10-percent chance she will live through the night, and even then, if by some slim chance she does make it, her future could be a very cruel one"
Numb with disbelief, David and Diana listened as the doctor described the devastating problems Dana would likely face if she survived.
She would never walk, she would never talk, she would probably be blind, and she would certainly be prone to other catastrophic conditions from cerebral palsy to complete mental retardation, and on and on.
"No! No!" was all Diana could say.
She and David, with their 5-year-old son Dustin, had long dreamed of the day they would have a daughter to become a family of four.
Now, within a matter of hours, that dream was slipping away
But as those first days passed, a new agony set in for David and Diana. Because Dana's underdeveloped nervous system was essentially 'raw', the lightest kiss or caress only intensified her discomfort, so they couldn't even cradle their tiny baby girl against their chests to offer the strength of their love.
All they could do, as Dana struggled alone beneath the ultraviolet light in the tangle of tubes and wires, was to pray that God would stay close to their precious little girl.
There was never a moment when Dana suddenly grew stronger.
But as the weeks went by, she did slowly gain an ounce of weight here and an ounce of strength there.
At last, when Dana turned two months old. her parents were able to hold her in their arms for the very first time.
And two months later, though doctors continued to gently but grimly warn that her chances of surviving, much less living any kind of normal life, were next to zero, Dana went home from t he hospital, just as her mother had predicted.
Five years later, when Dana was a petite but feisty young girl with glittering gray eyes and an unquenchable zest for life.
She showed no signs whatsoever of any mental or physical impairment. Simply, she was everything a little girl can be and more. But that happy ending is far from the end of her story.
One blistering afternoon in the summer of 1996 near her home in Irving, Texas, Dana was sitting in her mother's lap in the bleachers of a local ball park where her brother Dustin's baseball team was prac ticing.
As always, Dana was chattering nonstop with her mother and several other adults sitting nearby when she suddenly fell silent. Hugging her arms across her chest, little Dana asked, "Do you smell that?"
Smelling the air and detecting the approach of a thunderstorm, Diana replied, "Yes, it smells like rain."
Dana closed her eyes and again asked, "Do you smell that?"
Once again, her mother replied, "Yes, I think we're about to get wet. It smells like rain."
Still caught in the moment, Dana shook her head, patted her thin shoulders with her small hands and loudly announced,
"No, it smells like Him.
It smells like God when you lay your head on His chest."
Tears blurred Diana's eyes as Dana happily hopped down to play with the other children.
Before the rains came, her daughter's words confirmed what Diana and all the members of the extended Blessing family had known, at least in their hearts, all along.
During those long days and nights of her first two months of her life, when her nerves were too sensitive for them to touch her, God was holding Dana on His chest and it is His loving scent that she remembers so well.
ANGELS EXIST but some times, since they don't all have wings, we call them FRIENDS
NAIROBI (AFP) - A baby hippopotamus that survived the tsunami waves on the Kenyan coast has formed a strong bond with a giant male century-old tortoise in an animal facility in the port city of Mombassa , officials said. The hippopotamus, nicknamed Owen and weighing about 300 kilograms (650 pounds), was swept down Sabaki River into the Ind ian Ocean , then forced back to shore when tsunami waves struck the Kenyan coast on December 26, before wildlife rangers rescued him.
"It is incredible. A-less-than-a-year-old hippo has adopted a male tortoise, about a century old, and the tortoise seems to be very happy with being a 'mother'," ecologist Paula Kahumbu, who is in charge of Lafarge Park , told AFP.
"After it was swept away and lost its mother, the hippo was traumatized. It had to look for something to be a surrogate mother. Fortunately , it landed on the tortoise and established a strong bond. They swim, eat and sleep together," the ecologist added. "The hippo follows the tortoise exactly the way it followed its mother. If somebody approaches the tortoise, the hippo becomes aggressive, as if protecting its biological mother," Kahumbu added.
"The hippo is a young baby, he was left at a very tender age and by nature, hippos are social animals that like to stay with their mothers for four years," he explained.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away."
This is a real story that shows that our differences don't matter much when we need the comfort of another. We could all learn a lesson from these two creatures, "Look beyond the differences and find a way to walk the path together."
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