groodlelove

Beyla's Here!

2006-06-27T02:17:00.000-02:00

Yes, Beyla arrived on June 15th which is her Mimi's birthday. She weighed 6 lbs and 13 oz. She was 19" long and oh so sweet. Bryan and I were able to spend a week together at home with her. We had so much fun. Bryan is a wonderful Daddy. I will be off for 6 weeks total and I am enjoying every minute of it. Beyla seems to be somewhat adjusted now to living with us and has even slept through the night on several occasions. If you want to see her hospital pictures go to growingfamily.com, click web nursery, enter her birthdate and then when you find her name it will ask for a password. The password is Beyla. Thank you Heidi for reminding me that I still have a blog. :)

2006-06-27T02:08:00.000-02:00

Beyla Joelle Carpenter

2006-01-17T21:25:00.000-02:00

We're having a Beyla!!!!!

Hello my name is Gretchen

2005-12-29T02:17:00.000-02:00

OK. I have not written in my blog in forever. I'm so sorry. It's because I have been in hibernation for the last 3 months. Explanation: I'm pregnant and have been completely zonked out. But, I'm waking up and feeling better. I am 15 weeks along and will know in 3 weeks if I am having a girl or boy. If its a girl, the name will be Beyla and a boy... Ozzie (after Ozzie Smith, Bryan's favorite baseball player. NOT Ozzy Ozbourne!) Anyway, I shall try to keep in touch better now.

2005-12-29T02:16:00.000-02:00

We're having a Baby!

2005-10-19T22:57:00.000-02:00

Isn't the ivy that is destroying our house pretty?

2005-10-19T22:56:00.000-02:00

Vote: Do you like this? Does it look like me?

2005-10-14T13:40:00.000-02:00

Apparently I have 4 people (at best) who regurally check my blog who are as follows: Heidi (My very fun and sweet cousin - Hey Heidi!), Laura (Hey Laura, you must be busy lately - no recent posts), Lee (Laura's Man, Hey Lee!) and maybe Jane (Bryan's Mom - Hey Jane - I hope you do.) But, that's all. Oh and those random people that LOVE your blog so much that they want you to buy their products. RIIIGHHHT! I do have more friends than 4. Really. I DO! Tear. Bryan, do you check my blog dear? We'll see.

When someone has a new post it is so much fun. Don't you think? It's like when someone gives you candy. Fun Dip to be specific. I would really love some Fun Dip right now. Speaking of Candy, for Halloween I am going to be a cheerleader with BC on the front of my sweater. BC, of course stands for Bryan Carpenter. I'll send pictures. Speaking of pictures, my blog has lots of words on it presently. I will be sure to include some pictures on my next blog.

Enough is Enough! Know when to stop, Gretchen!

2005-10-12T18:18:00.000-02:00

Interesting Blogs of random individuals which I know not:
http://24.101.81.26/blog/
http://hyp rculture.typepad.com/sarah/e
http://www.ecoshock.org/2005/09/weather-modification-weapons.html

Remathematics

2005-10-12T17:16:00.000-02:00

Today I am frustrated because I loved science until Math had to get involved. Everything really interesting to me involves math. You can only be so inventive without it. I have always had the opinion that Math was not real. Math is entirely made up by weird people who can't read very well and have no imagination. But, apparently I am wrong. Math can answer mysteries when there are no visual clues at all. People that are mathematically smart pat me on the head and say things like, "well you're good at artistic stuff." Like that's supposed to help. "Go color in your coloring book dear, that's over your head." Well, just because I nearly failed high school because of Algebra II (I don't even know what senior level math is supposed to be, much less advanced classes), doesn't mean that I can't one day learn Math. The question is, at what level did I leave off? I obviously didn't remember much from Algebra I in 8th grade. But, I do remember doing very well in elementary school. So if I have to start there, I will. Is there anyone out there (who reads my blogs) that could recommend a book for someone like me? Math for Dummies? Keep in mind that I want to be recognized one day for solving advanced algae rhythms. That was a joke. I can spell. I don't know if I should post this or not. Oops here it goes...

2005-10-11T14:40:00.000-02:00

NATIONAL APATHY (I found this article at the link below)
http://www.harvestnet.org/articles/Apathy3.htm
Although some people believe America will surely last forever as blessed of all nations, this is not the stuff of sober thought. Many people are concerned for this nation, as well they should be. I have been one of those people and I had eighty percent of this writing done before the infamous September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. I delayed the completion of it until I was certain I was in the right frame of mind and spirit to finish it.
The magnitude of the terrorist attacks had everyone thinking about the survival of our nation and our way of life. Indeed, the length of time the American civilization has endured has already defied most odds. The average age of the world's civilizations has been 200 years. On July 4, 2001, America was 225 years old.
Historians have noted that societies and empires tend to progress through the following sequence as they rise into prominence and success and then fade into obscurity or sudden demise:
from bondage to spiritual faith
from spiritual faith to great courage
from courage to liberty
from liberty to abundance
from abundance to selfishness
from selfishness to complacency
from complacency to apathy
from apathy to dependence
from dependence back again to bondage
Just about anyone can tell you that we as a nation have been in the selfishness stage, have been grappling with apathy and complacency, and have been teetering on dependence. As an example of selfishness combined with expected dependence, many Americans have engaged in frivolous lawsuits of little or no merit. What is the underlying belief behind such lawsuits, except the insane proposition that no tragedy or event is beyond finding someone else to blame for it, and that these unfortunates must then be forced to pay for the event in question? Today, even jailed criminals engage in litigation, in hopes of being compensated for the effects of their own actions! As Americans taking less and less personal responsibility for their lives, they have lost the courage to own up to anything or suffer anything.
As for complacency, most Americans don’t even bother to vote, and when they are rallied to the polls, it is too often over whether they will get some perceived, deserved help from the Federal Government with their personal lives or finances. For the last good many elections, if the economy is good then no one cares, and anything goes. If the economy is bad, then the President is blamed and voted out. Certainly a President or Congress makes decisions that affect our state of the union, but these decisions usually have more long-term effect than short term. Unfortunately, a people who are interested in instant gratification, are too often fooled into judging an official only by those decisions that create instant effects, rather than considering the decisions that have will be most felt years from now. Is it any wonder then that we have "pork barrel" politics? Is it any wonder then, that so many of today's elected officials do not make a move without the latest poll results in their hands?
These excessively polled masses may not always know what is in the best interest of a country. In fact, although this may insult our own sense of an 'evolved' civilization, any government that runs by democracy alone ends up being run by the lowest common denominator of the peoples. The corrupt rich can buy votes, and the weak-minded can be rallied around the empty slogans and promises of the charismatic leader. Since our founding fathers wanted to hold these possibilities in check, they conceived of a government that was both part Republic and part Democracy. Anyone can be voted out by free election, by a consensus of the people. This guards the people from being ruled by the elite and powerful few. Yet, elected officials have reasonable autonomous powers of their own, so that they may make the hard decisions without excessive fear of the ignorant or uninformed masses.
A Democracy that demands "bread and circuses" is what Rome had during its time of debauchery, and a society of personal irresponsibility and instant gratification has brought us to that place. Our people are too easily convinced that the Almighty Government should rescue them from their personal woes into the security of "cradle to grave" dependency, without considering the fact that such a wish easily leads into a bondage we might not be so happy for later. And why shouldn’t they expect services on the dollar, anyhow? Higher and higher taxes make us feel entitled to them. This is exactly what the very popular book "The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," by British historian Edward Gibbon also predicted for a declining civilization.
Mirroring the secular situation, we have our paid professional staff of church leaders whom we expect to "bread and circus" us in our churches. We refuse personal spiritual responsibility ourselves inasmuch as we expect one man or woman to be our Pastor or Prophet in the stead of Jesus, who is the one who is mystically called "my servant David" (Ezek. 34:23). These supplanters fall into pride because they are there as the selective elite, refuse responsibility for their grievous sins, and then likewise look the other way when it comes to their buddies and supporters.
No wonder we have had such national moral and spiritual declines! When our secular decays so closely match the decays inside church fellowships, then there is not the spiritual fervor necessary for reviving and redirecting the lives of people in a very real way (I am not speaking of empty religious activity, which we have plenty of, but spiritual fervor).
Matt. 5:13 "You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.As I discussed earlier, apathy eventually comes down to our wills, and some act of our wills in order to effect a change. It is the same with a nation, which is comprised of many people, each with their own will. We could say that we are but one man in a sea of men, but the truth is that when one man is apathetic, others borrow his rationalization to become apathetic themselves. Apathy spreads like a cancer in this way, and we need more people who will warn against it, teach about it, and otherwise light a candle against its darkness by their voices and real life examples or interventions. Silent consent is not godly (Prov. 31:8-9).
CRISES AND APATHY
I have noticed that people who are in unhealthy relationships with substances (drugs and alcohol), objects (pornography or other activities, or even victims whom they think of as objects) or people (users and abusers), use these various props to 'medicate,' rescue, or insulate themselves from real life in some way. This includes the religious, who find themselves substituting empty religious activities or traditions for the Real Life of Christ and Christianity, or who find themselves turning over their decisions to an abusive false shepherd or prophet, rather than discovering their own personal walk in Christ's discipleship alone. Most of these people have been tricked into these unhealthy and tragic life circumstances, and some of them have been forced. Regardless, a person can become apathetic about their situation in a variety of ways and for a variety of reasons. These would include trying to place blame in a process of unproductive condemnation, excusing themselves from all personal responsibility, and inwardly preferring their personal medication or insulation over the risk of dealing with what they have been avoiding, or to the risk of just plain feeling.
Earlier, I said that God can sometimes be found reaching into a cesspool. He could reach His hand deep down in there and touch us with a powerful supernatural grace, releasing us immediately from the choking grip, and even lifting us out. Then of course, it is up to us whether we rejoice for His grace or whether we foolishly despise it by jumping back into our trap. He could simply touch His finger into the top of the cesspool, stirring up the stench and chunks so much that we are disgusted and take our own action to get away. He might call us out from a further distance, more impersonally expecting us to pray and call out to Him before He will reach down at all. He could be even more "distant" than that, waiting for us to take some greater effort or sacrifice on our own to seek Him and His wisdom. He could even hide Himself from us, judging us and consigning us for a time, or for forever, to whatever we have chosen! All of these stances of God can be found in both the Old Testament and the New Testament -- through Jesus as example in the New Testament.
God is not controlled by us and we must, like it or not, accept how He conducts Himself toward each one of us, personally or corporately. Sometimes He acts spontaneously by no merit or action of our own, and sometimes He will be, or at least appear to be, very passive. Often times, people get mad at Him because they wish an explanation they are not going to get this side of heaven, or sometimes because they react because they are in too much pain and fear to bear. They sit and fume like Jonah after the city of Nineveh repented, or they find a cave like Elijah after Jezebel's threats. This is between they and God, but as for us, the important thing is how we respond to crises no matter who it comes upon. All of us are on a "need to know" basis when it comes to God's hidden will or purposes, and we do not have to know everything before we know what our appropriate response is. Knowing everything is not possible for us anyhow, since our comprehension abilities are not exactly God-sized.
In our nation's history, crisis events have served to jar us out of our complacency. As far as I am concerned (and I believe it can be supported by how God treated Israel as a person, though she was corporal), this is not much different than how such events can be viewed by the individual. Indeed, interrupting a natural slide of wealth and security into apathy, sin, and destruction, was one of the reasons Elihu, the only wise friend of Job, gave to Job for God's purpose in his suffering (Job 36:15-20). Similarly, it could be the grace of tribulation that has kept our nation from its end. It may be painful, but we are still here after 225 years, and this did not have to be.
For instance, in World War I, many American sons, husbands, and fathers had either been maimed, killed, or psychologically impaired by the terror of high losses in the trenches. This had not been a romantic war by any means, and the American people took a corporate vow of sorts to avoid such pain again. From all walks of life and from all political persuasions, they put enormous pressure on President Franklin D. Roosevelt to keep out of any war in Europe. Knowing he could not get elected without the consent of the people, FDR did not exactly disagree with his voters. Privately though, he was secretly vexed as he watched Hitler rise upon the scene with military success after military success.
As Europe was being overrun, pillaged, starved to death, and marched off into concentration camps, and as Britain was being bombed, the American public still persisted in this political mindset known as isolationism. Winston Churchill begged FDR to intervene before Britain went down in flames, and FDR was perceptive enough regarding Hitler's lust for power that he did not anticipate he would stop with the destruction of Britain (in fact, Hitler had long ago devised his strategy for defeating America). Finally, they had a secret meeting in the Atlantic Ocean on the British battleship, "The Prince Of Wales". There, he met and talked with Winston Churchill for 4 days. In the end FDR conspired with Churchill to secretly support the British cause in the Atlantic, and if that provoked a war with Germany, then all the better.
After one skirmish involving a Nazi U-Boat in the Atlantic, Roosevelt made a cagey announcement and then told a friend, "I am perfectly willing to mislead and tell untruths if it will help win the war." But although Roosevelt expected the war with Germany to start in the Atlantic, the Pearl Harbor incident of Dec. 7, 1941 changed all of that. Some theorize that he knew of this incident before it was coming and purposely allowed it to happen, but White House servants and others who were beside Roosevelt as he heard the news, observed him to be very shocked, appalled, and even physically shaking for days afterwards. In any case, four days after Pearl Harbor, Germany declared war on America and that settled the matter, once and for all. America was in a war despite herself.
I am convinced that America did not know how close her peril was at the hands of Hitler. Indeed, early on, America nearly lost the war on the Atlantic side along our own coastline, due to the stunning and well-documented complacency of a certain Admiral King-- a man who had complete and undisputed reign over Naval Operations, and who had barely redeemed himself and the war effort after being called in for a rebuke by President Roosevelt. It is not an exaggeration to say that if the Pearl Harbor attack had been a little more successful, all factors could have had us in concentration camps ourselves by the end of 1942. Hitler was a brilliant strategist and opportunistic, and we had left ourselves wide-open for far too long. Such is the danger of complacency and the strange grace a crisis might bring to us, saving us from that final deathblow apathy would lead us into. Our reeling individual pain aside, all things might add up to a design we may never fathom.

Samuel says...

2005-10-10T20:56:00.000-02:00

"If you love wealth better than liberty;
The tranquility of servitude better than the animated conquest of freedom.
Go from us in peace.
We ask not your council or arms.
Crouch down and lick the hands that feed you.
May your chains sit lightly on you
and may prosperity forget that you are our countrymen."
-Samuel Adams

I came across this quote and loved it.

Google Earth

2005-10-07T15:43:00.000-02:00

OK. So my most recent thing is Google Earth. Everybody needs to know about Google Earth. Maybe you already DO know about Google Earth and love it as much as I do. I can't sleep at night because I can't quit google earthing. I NEED HELP!!!

Google Earth is a free downloadable program that allows you to pick any spot on the entire earth and zoom in on it. Some areas (in squares) are more magnified and you can see cars on the street!!! It is so cool. However (thank goodness) it is about 6 months old when you view it.

Search Google Earth. Download it and zoom in on: Washington DC (the Washington monument looks like a huge sun dial), New York, NY (you can see Ground Zero), Paris (the eiffel tower is hard to miss), the Sahara is cool, the grand canyon, alaska, florida keys, etc. I've been everywhere. I don't think the pyramids are visable but I'm looking.

Well, I hope you have as much fun as I have googling the earth.

Invisibility Cloak

2005-09-22T17:02:00.000-02:00

Japanese scientist invents 'invisibility coat'

The coat makes the wearer appear see-through

A scientist at Tokyo University has developed a coat which makes those who wear it appear invisible. Professor Susumu Tachi told the BBC's East Asia Today that the coat was made with a special type of "retro-reflective" material, which acts as a photographic screen.
If we paint a wall, then we can see behind it. Even if there is no window in the room, we can see the scenery outside Professor Susumu Tachi"We have a camera behind the person wearing the coat," Mr Tachi told the BBC. The image from the camera is then projected onto the coat, so that the wearer appears virtually transparent when seen through a viewfinder.
Beforehand "it looks like a grey coat," Mr Tachi said. "But when we project the image onto it we can see a very clear picture of what is projected."

Medical application
The real purpose of the new technology is not to make a person appear see-through, however, but to augment reality, Mr Tachi said. "Usually, virtual reality makes a computer-generated world with no direct relation to the real environment," he said. "What we would like to do is put virtual things in the real environment." A prime example of this is in the medical field. When surgeons are operating, they are unable to see any parts of their patient obscured by their own hands and equipment - a problem Mr Tachi hopes will be overcome by his invention. "The surgeon sees the patient as if they are transparent, and can see the whole body structure," Mr Tachi said. Another application is in housing. Retro-reflective technology can be applied to paint as well as clothing. "If we paint a wall, then we can see behind it," Mr Tachi said. "Even if there is no window in the room, we can see the scenery outside." The technology may also be useful for pilots, to make the floors of their cockpits appear transparent for landing. While the invention is still in its experimental stages, Mr Tachi and his team hope to develop a commercially viable system within a few years.

2005-09-17T22:14:00.000-02:00

Go Tigers!

Today's prayer

2005-09-16T00:57:00.000-02:00

Joy is lost on the soul whose paid no cost.
For once my distress is without sorrow for myself
Being stripped of all possesions, no more pride as a weapon.
As with the Ravens, allow my toils to provide harvest, shelter, and comfort.
Your words pour over my mind with meaning for the first time.
Thank you Father 'cause now I know
who holds my tomorrow and mine's not filled with sorrow.
So finally faith is my only option and it relieves my soul.
Father use my humbled life in your grand scheme somehow.
For there's no other reason for me to live.
Wake me up Lord from my busy trance of
unimportant tasks - the worldly dance.
Guide me blindly if you must. No more questions I've learned to trust.
-Gretchen Carpenter

2005-09-13T16:39:00.000-02:00

A Reedy River Picnic with Chloe,Madelyn and Jeanna Beanna.

Happy 90th Birthday Ma!!! Click Link Below...

2005-08-27T14:11:00.000-02:00

Happy 90th Birthday Ma!!!

2005-08-21T11:56:00.000-02:00

August 20th - Lake Lure/Chimey Rock. Bryan was sooo happy 'cause he got boiled peanuts!

Fripp Island 2005 Video Blog

2005-08-02T19:22:00.000-02:00

http://www.archive.org/download/gretchencarpenterfrippisland2005/FRIPP_2005.wmv

here's to laura

2005-07-14T13:19:00.000-02:00

i wish laura had spoken at my graduation. Check this out...

my high school graduation speech

i had to dig this out of the old files after having a cool discussion with gretch tonight. i haven't looked at this in years - so it should be interesting...

"i think if i asked everyone here today what he or she wanted from life, i'm sure happiness would be on everyone's list somewhere. it seems that everyone wants to be happy, but it's so easy to live your life and one day find yourself trapped in a world where all your dreams have been forgotten. maybe circumstances or bad decision making has put you in this place where you don't even recognize yourself. you've forgotten what makes you happy; you've forgotten your bliss.in joseph campbell's the power of myth, he compares success to true happiness. he says, "you may have success in life, but then just think of it-what kind of life was it? what good was it - you've never done the thing you wanted to do in all your life...go where your body and soul want to go. when you have the feeling of bliss then stay with it, and don't let anyone throw you off."success does not always mean fulfillment or happiness. in many cases, it can mean the exact opposite. but when people find the thing that makes them interested in life, when they find their bliss, success will come naturally. they will become aware of the beauty that had always been surrounding them.campbell goes on to say that "if you do follow your bliss you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while, waiting for you, and the life that you ought to be living is the one you are living. when you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in your field of bliss, and they open the doors to you." he says, "follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and the doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be."i hope that all of us, if we haven't already, will find our bliss. whether it be running a 5k in the rain, writing our every thought in a beat up spiral notebook, tending to roses, chasing tornadoes, watching black and white movies, constructing impossible bulletin boards, or contemplating the blissful existence of cows... whatever your bliss may be, i encourage all of you to cling to it as hard as you can, because it will ultimately save you in your journey ahead."

parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...

2005-07-01T14:47:00.000-02:00

i was searching for a song laura (work friend) suggested i hear. the song is by paul simon, for emily wherever i may find her. after doing a little research i found that it is about the original melancholy, emily dickenson. it is a cool song. but, while researching i came across some information about the more common song scarborough fair...

It is an english folk song that dates back to late medieval times, when the seaside resort of Scarborough was an important venue for tradesmen from all over England. Founded well over a thousand years ago as Skarthaborg by the norman Skartha, the Viking settlement in North Yorkshire in the north-west of England became a very important port as the dark ages drew to a close.
Explanations of the lyrics
The narrator of the song is a man who was jilted by his lover. Although dealing with the paradoxes he sees himself posed to in a very subtle and poetic manner, this was a folk song and not written by nobles. The courtly ideal of romantic love in the middle ages, practised by knights and noblemen, was loving a lady and adoring her from a distance, in a very detached manner. There was hardly a dream and sometimes not even a wish that such love could ever be answered. As a version of the song exists which is set in Whittington Fair and which is presumed to be equally old, it is puzzling why the lieu d'action of the song eventually became reverted to Scarborough. A possible explanation is that this is a hint from the singer to his lover, telling how she went away suddenly without warning or reason. Scarborough was known as a town where suspected thieves or other criminals were quickly dealt with and hung on a tree or à la lanterne after some form of street justice. This is why a 'Scarborough warning' still means 'without any warning' in today's English. This would also account for the absence of any suggestion of a reason for her departure, which could mean either that the singer doesn't have a clue why his lady left, or perhaps that these reasons are too difficult to explain and he gently leaves them out. The writer goes on to assign his true love impossible tasks, to try and explain to her that love sometimes requires doing things which seem downright impossible on the face of it. The singer is asking his love to do the impossible, and then come back to him and ask for his hand. This is a highly unusual suggestion, because in those days it was a grave faux-pas to people from all walks of life for a lady to ask for a man's hand. Yet it fits in well with the rest of the lyrics, as nothing seems to be impossible in the song.
The meaning of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme...
The herbs parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme, recurring in the second line of each stanza, make up for a key motive in the song. Although meaningless to most people today, these herbs spoke to the imagination of medieval people as much as red roses do to us today. Without any connotation neccesary, they symbolize virtues the singer wishes his true love and himself to have, in order to make it possible for her to come back again.
Parsley (Petroselinum crispum)
Parsley is still prescribed by phytotherapists today to people who suffer from bad digestion. Eating a leaf of parsley with a meal makes the digestion of heavy vegetables such as spinach a lot easier. It was said to take away the bitterness, and medieval doctors took this in a spiritual sense as well.
Sage (Salvia officinalis)
Sage has been known to symbolize strength for thousands of years.
Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis)
Rosemary represents faithfulness, love and remembrance. Ancient Greek lovers used to give rosemary to their ladies, and the custom of a bride wearing twigs of rosemary in her hair is still practised in England and several other European countries today. The herb also stands for sensibility and prudence. Ancient Roman doctors recommended putting a small bag of rosemary leaves under the pillow of someone who had to perform a difficult mental task, such as an exam. Rosemary is associated with feminine love, because it's very strong and tough, although it grows slowly.
Thyme (Thymus vulgaris)
According to legend, the king of
fairies dances in the wild thyme with all of the fairies on midsummernight; that's the best known legendary appearance of the herb. But the reason Thyme is mentioned here is that it symbolizes courage. At the time this song was written, knights used to wear images of thyme in their shields when they went to combat, which their ladies embroidered in them as a symbol of their courage. This makes it clear what the disappointed lover means to say by mentioning these herbs. He wishes his true love mildness to soothe the bitterness which is between them, strength to stand firm in the time of their being apart from each other, faithfulness to stay with him during this period of loneliness and paradoxically courage to fulfill her impossible tasks and to come back to him by the time she can.

- info taken from www.geocities.com/paris/villa/3895

cool huh? although after reading the lyrics, it seems to me that he is really saying the equivalent to "when pigs fly" she will be a true love of mine. -groodlelove

Vision Checkup

2005-06-27T16:40:00.000-02:00

When the others looked at Goliath they said "He's too big. We couldn't touch him."
David said "He's so big, I couldn't miss him."

Two brothers were questioned separately about what past event lead to their current lifestyle. One brother who was in prison replied, "My Father was an alcoholic." In another room, the successful brother also replied "My Father was an alcoholic."

See Bryan jump.

2005-06-27T14:36:00.000-02:00

Below is Bryan at the Eplee qualifier pool party this weekend. We had a great time and Bryan was able to get some needed attention from the audience through his pool acrobatics...

2005-06-27T14:35:00.000-02:00

Bryan Airborne

if you build it...

2005-06-24T12:45:00.000-02:00

Bryan and I have been working hard on an internet project and have paid down most of our debt. And since our income is residual and increasing, we want to wait to build our dream home in the upstate. So we now have decided to go ahead and build a beach house at Fripp Island. We bought the property last weekend. It's located on the old golf course end. I have had the plans drawn up since I was 7. We will not have to rent it out. That means that our families can go anytime they want for free. They break ground in September. It should be finished by next August. From that point on, free vacations for everybody!! Yay! OK. I'm a big fat liar. But one day, it will be true. I promise. And everybody will have a key of their own. It will be a thank you haven for all the wonderful memories we've shared. -love you all, groodlelove

LAURA!

2005-06-20T17:48:00.000-02:00

Laura, I have my own blog-site now. You would be proud. I'm sure that if you knew about it, you would leave Brazil and come BACK TO WORK and talk about it with me. Very boring without you, Gretchen.

Meet Jill's Baby...

2005-06-20T12:08:00.000-02:00

Baby Watson

Think of Me

2005-06-18T12:20:00.000-02:00

Yesterday afternoon Bryan and I took a nap until about 9:00 pm! And I'm still Tired! But anyway, I had a great dream. I was young, about Chloe's age; 8. It was just about to be completely dark and the sky was a rich purple. There was snow on the ground. Yet I was barefoot and didn't feel the cold. I had on the black and purple shawl that my aunt Barbara made for me. I was running through the streets singing "Think of Me" (from Phantom of the Opera) and I sounded great. A few cars blew their horns for me to move. My Mom had some other children with her and she warned me to stay out of the road. But, I paid no attention to anything but the sky and how great I felt. And I climbed up on top of some dumpsters and continued to sing. I felt so beautiful. Crazy huh?

i was promised

2005-06-17T23:37:00.000-02:00

i was promised the moon
as a small child
and with little effort
the moon would be mine

so one indigo night
i set out for flight
to lasso that circle
of illuminous light

but the faster I ran
the higher it flew
till the tears on my face
had mixed with the dew

is this a sign?
could this be true?
this dream that I wished for
would never come true?

i kneeled down to pray
then looked to the sky
the moon and i shared
one final goodbye

then something embraced me
a warmth on my back
i turned to see the sun
smiling back

and this was far greater
than anything I could dream
for the sun had enlightened
the world to be seen

-gretchen carpenter

Scalar Electromagnetics

2005-06-17T15:38:00.000-02:00

Recently I have been reading over my head. It dosn't take much. The subject is Scalar Electromagnetics. Apparently their is some controversy over the accuracy of this acclaimed technology. However, I am not smart enough to cipher the truth (if any) from the net legends. Therefore, I will provide you, my friends, with a related link for your own discovery and reading enjoyment. And for those of you who are natural born skeptics, note that the last words of U.S. General John Sedgwick (at the the battle of Spotsylvania) were... "they couldn't hit an elephant from this dist-"
http://www.cheniere.org/,

2005-06-17T15:34:00.000-02:00

Summer Lovin'. Me and my baby.

Grandpa and "Diddy"

2005-06-17T15:16:00.000-02:00

You can't go home again.

Flies on the butter

2005-06-17T15:03:00.000-02:00

Old tin roof. Leaves in the gutter. A hole in the screen door as big as your fist and flies on the butter. Ma-maw baking sugar cookies. We were watching cartoons. I heard her hollar from the kitchen which one of you youngin's wants to lick the spoon. Yellow jackets on the watermelon. Honeysuckle in the air. Daddy turning on the sprinkler; us kids running through it in our underwear. Old dog napping on the front porch; his ear just a twitchin'. Fell asleep on my Grandaddy's lap to the sound of his pocketwatch a-ticken'... You can dream about it every now and then but you can't go home again.
- The Judds, "Flies on the Butter"

Chloe-Bella

2005-06-17T15:00:00.000-02:00

Let your own light shine!

Our deepest Fear

2005-06-17T14:30:00.000-02:00

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people will not feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It is not just in some of us; it is in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.
-Marianne Williamson, in Return to Love