Happy Thanksgiving

What Every Child Should Know About Thanksgiving

By Newt Gingrich

Second only to Independence Day, Thanksgiving is a uniquely American holiday. And as an American holiday, it is rooted deeply - like our nation - in faith in God.

The earliest Thanksgivings were celebrated by Americans who were keenly aware that their blessings - like their rights - came from God. In times of hardship unimaginable to us today, they took time to give thanks to their Creator.

Throughout early American history, when they suffered from drought, famine or war, Americans paused, not to seek vengeance or to question their faith, but to give thanks to God for the blessings they still had.

At a time when the economic news seems to get worse every day, it's important to remember the humble faith of these early Americans. They didn't just give thanks when times were good, they gave thanks when times were bad - especially when times were bad.

Radical Secularists Deny the Central Role of Religion in American History

Today is a decidedly different time in America.

Not only have many Americans forgotten or never learned the historic origins of our Thanksgiving - to pause and give thanks to God for our abundance - but radical secularists are intent on removing God and faith from our national life altogether.

Many of the entertainment and political elite seem to be threatened by religious faith.

Others seem intent on denying or whitewashing the central role that religious faith has played in American history, such as the attempt to whitewash God out of the Capitol Visitor's Center (view the video and petition my wife, Callista, and I have created to ask Congress to ensure the Capitol Visitor's Center is historically accurate about America's Godly heritage.)

These radical secularists seek to portray those who acknowledge this historical fact as theocrats intent on imposing their religion on others.

In fact, to acknowledge the centrality of God in American history is to acknowledge America's great freedom of religion - the freedom to worship and the freedom not to worship. Many Americans have taken advantage of this freedom by drawing closer to their Creator. They understand, even if so many of our media and political elites don't, that religious freedom is the cornerstone of all of our freedoms.

Voices From Thanksgivings Past

The centrality of God in Thanksgiving in America comes through in the words of some of our greatest national leaders:

Virginia Governor Thomas Jefferson, in 1779:

[I] appoint … a day of public Thanksgiving to Almighty God … to [ask] Him that He would … pour out His Holy Spirit on all ministers of the Gospel; that He would … spread the light of Christian knowledge through the remotest corners of the earth … and that He would establish these United States upon the basis of religion and virtue.

President George Washington’s first federal Thanksgiving proclamation in 1789:

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor.… Now, therefore, I do appoint Thursday, the 26th day of November 1789 … that we may all unite to render unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection.

President Abraham Lincoln, making Thanksgiving an annual national holiday in 1863, in the midst of the Civil War:

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.

It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people.

“Let Us Be Thankful For a Land That Will For Such Religion Stand”

Our leaders have not been alone in celebrating God’s gifts at Thanksgiving, of course.

I conclude today with a poem by Lizelia Augusta Jenkins Moorer, an African-American poet writing at the turn of the 20th century. Her generous, hopeful view of Thanksgiving is made even more remarkable by the suffering and discrimination she endured as an African-American in the late 19th and early 20th century.

Thanksgiving

Let us give thanks to God above,
Thanks for expressions of His love,
Seen in the book of nature, grand
Taught by His love on every hand.

Let us be thankful in our hearts,
Thankful for all the truth imparts,
For the religion of our Lord,
All that is taught us in His word.

Let us be thankful for a land,
That will for such religion stand;
One that protects it by the law,
One that before it stands in awe.

Thankful for all things let us be,
Though there be woes and misery;
Lessons they bring us for our good-
Later 'twill all be understood.

Thankful for peace o'er land and sea,
Thankful for signs of liberty,
Thankful for homes, for life and health,
Pleasure and plenty, fame and wealth.

Thankful for friends and loved ones, too,
Thankful for all things, good and true,
Thankful for harvest in the fall,
Thankful to Him who gave it all.

May you and your family have a happy, healthy, and blessed Thanksgiving.

Your friend,

Life Magazine and Google team up to publish a large majority of the images from their archive stretching back into the 1700s you can check it out here.

Ronald McDonald House

Last night my department was responsible for preparing and feeding the guests at the Phoenix Ronald McDonald House. It was a great experience, that made me grateful for my good health and the good health of my children.

It was also a fantastic team building event for crew that went and participated at the house. I was humbled by the graciousness of the families that we fed. They were so thankful to us that I was awestruck by it because I have done a lot of similar charity events over the past 10 years and rarely do you have someone from EVERY family come back and thank you for coming and feeding them.

I will be doing this again and again, I truly received more than I gave.

They get so big, so fast

When our children are new they need us for everything, feeding, bathing, moving from place to place and to keep dry and without odors. But, as they grow they start stripping away your parental duties little by little, When they start feeding themselves, crawling, walking, that glorious day when they are finally potty trained, when they can start dressing themselves (sometimes 20 times a day), when they start making their lunches, bathing themselves, reading to themselves, operate electronic devices like TVs and DVD players better than you. These are all things that were our responsibilities to do for them at some point.

But day by day, they decide and with you training, they can do for themselves and you slowly become just a spectator is their lives. This is not all sad though, some of the things they take care of are good things to let go of... like diapers, and the early days of potty training where you are the "Butt Wiper"

That night Hunter came home from school, went upstairs to change his clothes, started a load of laundry(without prompting from us). This event is what prompted this train of thought and this post. I realized last night that my baby boy is relegating my to the cheap seats for a lot of his needs. BUT!!! All is not lost yet, he forgot to put soap in the washing machine, so I had to start it over.

Family Pictures

For the first time since Hunter was a baby, we had a formal family picture taken. I was shocked when we saw the pictures, I want you to know, I thought I looked younger and thinner, now my spirit is crushed, I really do look old and gray and FAT!!! Why didn't anyone tell me ahead of time?

Coolest Invention Since Sliced Bread

If you are like us, we have a lot of movies on DVD and they never seem to get put back into their case and back into the cabinet, making daddy crazy. I found the Western Digital (WD) Media Player. It is a simple and easy to use interface between digital media files including video, music and pictures and your television set. The way it works is with easy to use software you rip your DVDs onto a USB hard drive, plug the hard drive into the Media player which is plugged into your tv and you have a menu driven media center. This will allow you to keep the Original disks off the floor and undamaged.
This little invention is cool, really cool. I have tried other solutions for other problems and they end up causing more hassles than they are worth, I've got a garage full of them, like the back hair trimmer and the slice it dice it, cut off your finger kichen tools, but this one isn't like that for me, so far anyway.
It is working as promised and for $99 for the media player and a 500gb USB HDD for another $119, I couldn't be more impressed.
So if you are like we are, this is an answer to your prayers.

Respect the President Elect?

I was told the other day by a liberal and it is echoed by much of the liberal media, that now that the election is over we all need to get in line behind Dear Leader and show his some respect, This is my response to this ridiculous notion that we all should get in line and support someone who's policies go against everything you believe. So for all the liberal kool-aid drinking sheep, I will never fall in line and be blindly led into socialism, I will not show Dear Leader respect until it is earned, and I will not support or abide by Dear Leaders policies that I find morally and ethically bankrupt.

For the past two years every time "Dear Leader" has opened up his mouth he has blamed President Bush for something. However, President Bush was not at fault for 90% of it, the congress was, where dear leader should have been.
President Bush has been blamed for Katrina and the Levies breaking, New Orleans was send funds 30 years ago to fix those very levies and re-directed the funds to something else.
He was blamed for FEMA not responding fast enough, the governor and mayor requested federal help 72 hours after Katrina and the rules at the time was FEMA cannot go where they are not invited.
President Bush has been blamed for the economic crisis, We were in an economic boom until the Democrats took control of congress in 2006, then it all went belly up.
President Bush hasn't been credited with keeping this country safe from more terrorist attacks for the past 7 years.
For introducing 50 million people to democracy and freeing them from an evil dictator that would rather kill you than deal with you.
For warning congress about Fannie and Freddie for the past 7 years.

So if Dear Leader wants respect from my house he is going to have to earn it, he showed no respect to the sitting president of the USA, so he hasn't earned the respect from the USA.

I will continue to scream when he tries to force socialism on us, and IF he does something worthwhile, I will give him credit. That is more than I can say for him if regards to President Bush.

Just as advertised dancing like it is 1983

Cake (next trip east I will make you all a real one of these)

The Birthday Girls - Jenny in the white and Amy Jo in the black.

Amy Jo the day before she went away to college.

Jenny during the summer of '83

Amy Jo and I dancing in 1982 or 3

Jenny in the middle of a long bus trip to DC

Seriously, Amy and Jenny were two of my best friends through the teenage years. They kept me out of trouble through their example and the love of them and their family. I know that I have been giving Jenny a hard time this week with pictures (she started it), but I want her and Amy and the rest of the Hutchin's know that I love them and they hold a very special place in my heart forever, without them, I don't know where I would have ended up, but it probably wouldn't have been good.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!
AMY JO AND JENNY!

Love you!!!

NOTICE!

Due to recent budget cuts and the rising cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions, and the results of the Presidential Election,
The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

BIG POST COMING ON THE 7TH

You don't want to miss the fun and excitement here on The Cutting Board on the 7th, we will be celebrating the birthdays of two amazing ladies with pictures, cake and dancing. Hope you all come by and visit again then.

Time to fight

We, the conservative minority need to stand up right now and start fighting to keep the perils of socialism at bay. We are not dead in the water, the congress did not gain enough seats for a super majority, so we will still have some power to say "NO" to some of the more leftist bills and legislation. We have two years from right now before the mid-term election. It is time to pay attention and hold your elected officials accountable for EVERY vote. We cannot wait until the last minute and we can't wait and hope for the best, we need to fight everyday to make sure that the conservative voice is heard. Get involved, e-mail and call your congressmen and voice your opinion of every piece of legislation. 51% of this great country drank the kool-aid and voted for someone who wants to change EVERYTHING that we, as conservatives, hold precious. It is now up to us to find a conservative voice and support them all the way to Washington. We must take control of the congress in 2010.

I pray for the safety of this country and for leadership that will leave the foundation alone.

Happy Birthday Roger

It's Roger's Birthday, I have never met him, but grew up with his wife, she started something, and I came across this picture of him, to see what he looks like now go here.
I know Jenny, so Roger must be a saint... just sayin'!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROGER!!!

Payback for Jenny

Can you identify all the people in this picture? I got about 75 - 80% of them, I think.

This is the Jenny that I remember, her tongue was always out and she was typically drooling.

This shirt was NOT Priscilla approved, Jenny was always a rebel. She sneaked out of the house in a sweatshirt to conceal her less than modest shirt.

I have a couple more, but I will hold them until she makes her next move.

The truth is also that very few pictures exist where Jenny is not really cute, so I am having trouble finding any that she doesn't look good in.