Never forget Palm Sunday Tears

A few years ago on Palm Sunday, our Pastor preached a message entitled, “Palm Sunday Tears.” Based on Luke 19:41 (New International Version) 41As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it. The sermon basically described the sorrow that Jesus felt over the city. This year's sermon was great but I will never forget, "Palm Sunday Tears". It is one of my favorite sermons because of a few reasons. One, it shows us that our Savior, Jesus Christ was human enough to shed tears. He had emotions. He saw something that troubled him and it moved him to tears. We all know that it takes a lot for a man to cry, so I am confident that my Lord was really disturbed by what he saw. Two, Jesus wept over the city because He saw not only something physically that troubled Him but, also he saw something spiritually disturbing. You don't have to be a believer to realize that something is going wrong in this world.
Just being a human being qualifies you. Its not about any religion or faith. It's about people helping other people. I am quite tired of rules and regulations that stop us from helping other people. (race, religion, gender, where you come from, what school you attended! blah blah blah who cares?!)
It is thought that more than one million people are living with HIV in the USA and that more than half a million have died after developing AIDS.
The divorce rate has been climbing in every industrialized country in the world.
According to UN's statistics, 141 million people all over the world take marijuana. This number is equal to 2,5 percent of people living in the world.
The statistics shows that 22-25 million people have already taken cocaine at least one time.
Suicide is the third-leading cause of death for 15- to 24-year-olds, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), surpassed only by accidents and homicide
Almost half the world — over 3 billion people — live on less than $2.00 a day.
29,000 children die per day because they have no safe water to drink, lack of medical services, and poverty.
Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names. Just too name of few.
“But if we are the body
Why aren’t His arms reaching?
Why aren’t His hands healing?
Why aren’t His Words teaching?”

I have "the fever". Spring Fever! (ah choo! excuse me!) It's spring time even though it was oddly cold today. (@45'F) In fact, there is a "freeze alert" tonight. But, it doesn't matter how cold it is, I have "Spring Fever!" I realized my condition a few days ago. Many people know when spring is in the air by the many physical signs that they experience that come in the forms of itchy, watery eyes, stuffy noses, and torturous fits of sneezing due to the pollen in the air. I have all of the above! In fact, my car is even covered with traces of yellow dust also known as pollen.
Just last week the birds and the bees were busy procreating and pollinating. The weather was really warm and pleasant. Not too hot, not too cold. Just right. The kind of weather that makes you wanna just stay outdoors all day and all night. Perhaps, thats what started my symptoms. Unfortunately, not only do I physically have "spring fever" but I am emotionally boiling over with this thing! I just feel so excited and anxious! I am definitely ready to finish up this semester and welcome summer!
Spring fever is not a definitive diagnostic category according to research. However, statistically, at least half of the people who live in the northern latitudes of USA and Canada experience more intensely the symptoms of Spring fever. Longer sunny days seem to have a direct impact on people’s psychological and physiological responses to the passage of the seasons. Spring fever is not just in the head. It is caused by an adjustment in body chemistry and seasonal biology.

ahh! good news from the GLobE!

Alex Day helped catch a baby that fell out of a window in Lawrence Sunday. (Jonathan Wiggs / Globe Staff)


By Brian R. Ballou and Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
Two men were praised as heroes today after they caught an 18-month-old baby girl who plummeted at least 30 feet from the window of a triple-decker apartment building in Lawrence.

Alex Day, 23, of Lawrence joined Robert Lemire, 45, of Methuen in catching the baby as she hurtled towards the earth Sunday night.

"She looked at me and had a weird look on her face as if to say, 'Wow, all of a sudden I'm down here,' " Day recalled in an interview today. He said he rushed the baby back upstairs to her home. On the stairs, he said, the baby actually started chuckling.

Lemire said he was walking down Haverhill Street at about 6:30 p.m. Sunday, talking to a friend on his cellphone about softball practice, when he saw some toys falling out of the window of a three-decker.

"Next thing you know, I hear a baby cry, so I automatically looked there and there was a baby hanging out the window," he said. "So I pretty much bolted across the street."

Lemire opened the door of the house on Haverhill Street, yelled for help, then returned underneath the window and tried to call 911. Day, who had been in a Bible study session on the first floor, joined him and Lemire soon warned him, "Here she comes."

The baby fell through the air and when she landed, "he pretty much got the top and I got the diaper end, or the bottom half, or whatever you call it," Lemire said.

Lemire, a home remodeling contractor who is married with two children, 13 and 16, said, "I was nervous as heck, thinking of my own kids."

Day, a trucking manager, said it was fortunate that he had started going back to the gym so he could help catch the baby, who weighed about 30 pounds.

He saw divine intervention at work in the baby's rescue. "Yeah, I think God had a lot to do with this," said Day. "Definitely, by God."

Caliah Clark was taken to a hospital. but is expected to be OK. The two rescuers were "real heroes," Police Chief John Romero said. The Department of Social Services was notified and was expected to investigate.

The child's father, Randall Clark, said he was watching a 2-month-old baby in another room when the incident occurred, Romero said.

Romero said there was no child guard on the window.

"There are a number of things we are doing to investigate on our end," he said. "At this point, we are investigating to determine what led up to this incident."

Officials said the baby had fallen 40 feet, but Lemire said that was incorrect.

The fall was 28 feet, perhaps 30, he said. "Like I said, I'm a remodeling contractor so I'm pretty good at the heights."

"I didn't know if it was a boy or a girl. I was just happy we were lucky enough to catch her," he said.

Globe correspondent Michele Richinick contributed to this report.

We have quite a few rights as citizens of the United States of America. Freedom of conscience is a basic American principle. Currently, the freedom of conscience versus unfettered access to healthcare, especially reproductive services is under the microscope. The Obama administration will soon face the decision of defining this right to us. For example, should a a doctor be able to deny birth control services to a patient because they believe that it is morally wrong? Does this violate the patients access to "unfettered" healthcare?
Last December, the Bush administration issued a "conscience rule" to protect healthcare providers who declined to participate in services they found to be morally objectionable, such as abortion. The Obama administration announced its intent to rescind the rule, but it is seeking public comment by April 9 before making a final decision.

The Cost of getting hurt...

For the past few days I have been focusing my attention on another blogspot of mine, called Rethinking Africa.(rethinkingafrica.blogspot.com) Its a place where I consider all the options and opinions that we, as Westerners, say will help Africa. Sometimes we think that we have all the answers but it is the questions that we have wrong. I'm not an expert, just a concerned individual who will make a difference. (notice I said will make a difference, not want) Please check it out if you get a chance.
Something happend to me the other day that really made me "rethink" my own life.
I was running late for my first class, so I decided to run across the campus. As I was running, I fell and landed on the edge of some concrete steps. Yep, its as painful as it sounds. Long story short, my knee swoll to the size of an orange. I have bruises,scrapes and cuts as souvenirs of my fall.
As a result of my injury, I had to miss the rest of the week from school and work. I began to become frustrated because time is money and money is time. Most of you who have been following my blog can pretty much tell by now that I am a low-maintenance type of lady. I don't need manicures, pedicures, visits to the mall or stuff like that. In fact, I'm pretty simple. And a bit frugal. But, my ability to work ensures that I can keep the simple things that I have obtained in my life: my home, car, education, daily bread, medical & dental insurance, and all the needs that my kids require.
But, this time off has made me realize a few things. Many Americans, are one step away from being in the "poorhouse". For many in the working class, an injury or becoming very ill is just not an option. Yes, America is facing a financial crisis but this has nothing to do with that. The reality of the working class is this-many of us live from paycheck to paycheck. Any interuptions in that cycle could bring on devastation. We simply can't afford to take time off. We can't afford to stay home and recover from an injury.
As a student, I pretty much have my expenses on a tight budget. I work. Get paid. Pay bills. Do it all over again for the next pay period. Although, this is a hard way to survive it also motivates me to continue working on my degree.
So, here I am at home with an elevated leg. Sipping on some green tea and trying muster up the strength to make it to my shift tonight.

Where did all the good "toons" go?

Where did all the good cartoons go? I truly believe that some things should remain the same. For example, as a child I will always remember watching the Saturday morning cartoons that came on starting at 6am. Although, my brother and I complained about getting up early for school during the weekdays, we gladly reported to the television no later than 6am on Saturday mornings. Fully loaded with a bowl of Apple Jacks cereal, pillows under our arms, and still in our pajamas we would stretch out in front of the tv. We weren’t coming up for air until the last episode of our favorite show went off.
If we didn’t have a baseball game, birthday party, or any other type of adventure to attend, my Mother would allow us to relax and enjoy our shows, most of the time. She’d even let us do our household chores after our shows IF we were really lucky. Some of my favorites were: Popeye, Tom & Jerry, Speed Racer, Groovy Ghoulies, Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Hour, Merry Melodies and who could forget my girls, Wonder Woman, Strawberry Shortcake and Rainbow Brite. Well times have changed, mention any of these cartoons to some born before 1979 and you’ll get a silent pause of confusion.
But, some of the toons out today are not so bad. I said some. Well, maybe I should be more specific. I enjoy the preschool age toons like: Blues Clues, Dora the Explorer, The BackYardigans and so on. Every toon has his day.
The time as come for little Miss Dora the Explorer. Dora, For those who don't know the fabulous Dora the Explorer, she's the character of a top-rated Nickelodeon television show about a little girl who goes, well, exploring while also teaching children Spanish. It's a great show. Dora is not being faded out like the cartoons of my day.
Dora is getting a makeover. I haven’t decided if I like this or not.
According to her network, Dora is growing up. In the months to come, she will be a “tween”. (American slang-means a young person that is twelve, not yet thirteen. Not a teenager but a tweenager) As a tween, Dora has moved to the big city, attends middle school and has a whole new fashionable look. She will also have a rich online world, a la Webkinz, in which girls can explore, play games, customize, and solve mysteries with Dora and her new friends. Her short hair has grown out and from what I can tell she loves to shop. Will she have acne too?

911 emergency call for McNuggets!

The number "911" is the universal emergency number for everyone in the United States. In 2000, approximately 150 million calls were made to 911, according to the National Emergency Number Association (NENA). If you were born in the 1960s or later, 911 was ingrained in you during childhood, and those born prior to 1968 have been exposed enough to 911 that it has become second nature. Prior to 1968, there was no standard emergency number. So whats your definition of an emergency? Difficulty breathing, fainting, drowning, unexplained seizures or convulsions? Bleeding that won’t stop, perhaps even a fire, motor vehicle accident injury, or an industrial accident is an emergency. A robbery in progress? Shooting? Just a few of situations that I would classify as an emergency. I definitely would call “911” in any of these scenarios.
Latreasa Goodman, 27, ordered a 10-piece Chicken McNuggets meal on Saturday night in Fort Pierce, Florida., but then she was told that the restaurant was out of McNuggets. The restaurant offered another item from the menu, but would not refund her money due to store policy. Goodman called 911 to report the incident. "I called 911 because I couldn't get a refund, and I wanted my McNuggets," she is quoted as saying in the police report.
When police explained to Goodman that this was not an emergency situation, she replied: "This is an emergency. If I would have known they didn't have McNuggets, I wouldn't have given my money, and now she wants to give me a McDouble, but I don't want one."
People amaze me. What about you?