Please watch this video! THANKS! American form of government

For those of you who write blogs, do you ever wonder if anyone reads what you write, or if you even want anyone to read it? Some days I write and think I have something really important to share, and then get no comments, and think WOW I guess it was not so brilliant and certainly not inspiring! Well today is a day when I have nothing to share, but just thought I would comment on comments. I seldom get any and often wonder why I even blog. I think I do it mainly for myself....

Happy Valentines Day everyone! We had Joshua and Molly and John, Issac, Grace, and Jude out for dinner. We had stuffed pork loin and manacotti and broccoli and salad. A good time was had by all, except John got a bad headache and they had to leave early. It has been fun the past couple days, yesterday Terry and I bummed around before and after our eye exams, and then went to the Missions Valentines dinner. IT was a wonderful day, the dinner was a lot of fun for us. And today we cooked dinner together and had a great time doing it and then Molly and Terry did the dishes afterwards how grand is that? My pitiful hands sure were glad! Anyway hope you all had a blessed day with loved ones near.

200 Years ago today, Abraham Lincoln was born. Over the years, I have read so many articles on him, both positive and negative. I really do not know what to think of him. Was he a great uniter, or was he in actuality a great divider? Did he cause the Civil War? Or was he making the nation strong? What would our Nation look like today if the Civil War had never happened? Would our states eventually changed their laws and made slavery illegal all over the nation? or would we still have slavery had Abe Lincoln never gone to Washington?

Could we have done a greater service to our country by avoiding the Civil War that killed HUNDREDS of THOUSANDS of Americans? At least 618,000 Americans died in the Civil War, and some experts say the toll reached 700,000.


To many, Lincoln was all in it to free the slaves, but this letter to Horace Greeley shows this is not the case. His purpose was to save the Union, not to free the slaves.

Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 22, 1862

Hon. Horace Greeley:

Dear Sir. I have just read yours of the 19th addressed to myself through the New York Tribune. If there be in it any statements, or assumptions of fact, which I may know to be erroneous, I do not, now and here, controvert them. If there be perceptable in it an impatient and dictatorial tone, I waive it in deference to an old friend, whose heart I have always supposed to be right.
As to the policy I "seem to be pursuing" as you say, I have not meant to leave any one in doubt.
I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution. The sooner the national authority can be restored; the nearer the Union will be "the Union as it was." If there be those who would not save the Union, unless they could at the same time save slavery, I do not agree with them. If there be those who would not save the Union unless they could at the same time destroy slavery, I do not agree with them. My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union, and is not either to save or to destroy slavery. If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it, and if I could save it by freeing all slaves I would do it; and if I could save it by freeing some and leaving others alone I would also do that. What I do about slavery, and the colored race, I do because I believe it helps to save the Union; and what I forbear, I forbear because I don't believe it would help to save the Union. I shall do less whenever I shall believe what I am doing hurts the cause, and I shall do more whenever I shall believe doing more will help the cause. I shall try to correct errors when shown to be error; and I shall adopt new views so fast as they shall appear to be true views.
I have here stated my purpose according to my view of Official duty: and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.

Yours,
A. Lincoln

Source: "Abraham Lincoln: His Speeches and Writings" edited by Roy Basler

You can decide for yourself, but I read this to say Slavery really did not matter to Lincoln one way or the other his concern was to preserve the Union, not to free the slaves. So I think having him as a savior of the slavery movement is ridiculous! He did not free the slaves out of a conviction that slavery was wrong, he did it to save the USA. He does say his preference is that every man be free, but after reading this letter I do not know how anyone can think any differently on this issue. The war from his point of view was over the Union and States rights, not slavery.

Our prayer today is for President Obama to have the spiritual support and nurture needed to excel in office

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.
—II Timothy 3:16(NIV)

Heavenly Father, we praise You today for Your active involvement in the writing of Scripture, an involvement so powerful and pervasive that what is written is the infallible and authoritative Word of God. It is our life manual, by which we can know how to live a righteous life, through Your direction, that is pleasing to You.

Knowing this, Lord, we now intercede for President Obama, that You would place men and women in his life that would teach and, when needed, correct him from the pages of the Bible. Help President Obama to be open and desirous of this instruction, and guide him, O God, to seek the Scriptures for himself so that he may have the principles and wisdom necessary to excel as our president. In the name of Jesus we pray, amen.

Levi called and wanted us to come visit and see the puppies, so we went in, had dinner with Mandy, Asher, Levi and Addie at The Mexican restaurant in DeSoto, and then brought Levi home to spend the night. We had a snack and hot chocolate, and then went to watch "Yellowstone at Christmas" and then Terry and Levi are watching the "Stable Story" with Terry hoping Levi will fall asleep watching it. I can still hear Levi asking all the Why this and Why That questions in there, so I am afraid his short nap on the way home revived him too much! Terry gets to stay up until Levi falls asleep tonight! This is Terry's 10th anniversary with Yellow today, and that is why we ate out, to celebrate his anniversary. He has to go back to work tomorrow. It has been a good day. We had breakfast with John He made us a nice breakfast. Then we shopped at Orchlens, and then we planned our veggie garden, and then went to see the Luke Anderson family....

And now, remember how much God loves you!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
-- 1 John 4:10

For members of the Obama administration to walk humbly with our God
From Praying Through the First 100 Days

He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
—Micah 6:8(NIV)

Awesome and righteous God, You are beautiful and good in everything You do. Your glory is vast and incomprehensible, so magnificent are You! You are the only one worthy of praise and glory, O God. I humble myself before You today laying before You my life and all that includes. I bow before You mighty God in humility and awe.

As I bow, Lord, I also lift the members of the Obama administration before You, asking that You constrain each one to look to You in humility and trust as they serve our nation. May their hearts long for goodness—goodness as You define it—characterized by a humble and unassuming walk with You. May they desire and receive Your grace to serve with humility today and every day of President Obama’s tenure. I ask this in Your Son,Jesus Christ's holy and good name. Amen.