Sunday, April 29, 2012

The Weather

Good Morning Everyone,

This morning I woke up to a quiet rain that made me want to stay in bed and sleep.  It wasn't long before the softness turned into a downpour with thunder and lightening.

As a kid I grew up in a farming community and often the weather was a topic of discussion.  Farmers worried constantly about too little, or too much rain;  too much sun, or not enough for their crops.  They were apprehensive if their crops would survive a storm.

It seems everyone has an interest in the weather these days with so many towns and cities being hit by tornadoes, hurricanes, sunamis, earthquakes and other natural disasters.  When I was a kid, we stood out in the front yard and watched tornadoes hit in the countryside.  These days it's not safe to do that, and we run for cover.

Part of the reason so many towns and cities are being hit by disasters is because we have built up the countryside and there's not nearly as many open spaces for these calamities to hit. 

Here in the midwest, I see a drastic change in the weather patterns.  Many things can be causing it.  Modernization may be one of the big culprits.  

What's the weather like in your area?  Here in the midwest the weather may be forty one then seventy or ninety the next.  We are having huge swings in our temperatures.  

Have a good week.  See you next Sunday.

Hugs,
Sandy AKA Sandra K. Marshall
http://www.eirelander-publishing.com
http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall
 

Sunday, April 22, 2012

The Mormon Temple in Liberty Missouri


Good Morning Everyone,



This past week, some friends and myself took a tour of the Mormon Temple near Kansas City.  We were curious to see what it might look like and to get a better understanding of Mormons.  After all, we may have a Mormon President in the fall.

First of all if you leave a comment on my blog there will be no flaming here.  Even if you do not agree with their religion, in this country, the good old U.S.A., we are allowed to worship as we please. 

I admit, I found their temple and beliefs interesting even if I don't believe the same way.  For this blog, I'm not going into a lot of detail about the Mormon faith.  I'm only going to show some pictures and give you some interesting tidbits that I found interesting. 


If any of you are interested in taking the tour the temple is open to the public until April 28th and after that date it's only for church members.  There is no cost to the public. 

The picture at the left and below are of the outside of the Temple.  The   Temple is not used for church          services.                                         

These are the only two pictures I was allowed to take.  Once inside, we weren't allowed to use our cameras.  The pictures after this will have been downloaded from the Mormon website. 
                                                           

The picture on the left is the entrance to the Temple.  The painting on the wall is beautiful as is the whole Temple.  Once inside the Temple, the men and women go to dressing rooms to change out of their street clothes and put on white robes.                          




The room on your right is an instruction room. Latter-Day Saints learn of their premortal and mortal lives and of the blessings they can receive in the next life.                         


Above is the Celestial room.  It symbolizes life as eternal families with our Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ.  There is a room called the Sealing room.  In a sealing room, a bride and bridegroom are married not only for life but for eternity. 

The picture on the left and below are of the baptism font.  It is unique        in that the baptismal font rests on      the backs of twelve oxen,                  symbolically representing the twelve tribes  of Israel.                                





Baptisms are performed for the dead with the belief they can choose to accept being saved or not on the other side.  
      
There is a lot of history about the Mormons in the Kansas City area.  Did you know Mormons believed the Garden of Eden was located in Independence, Missouri?  The rapid growth of Mormons in Missouri led to political and social conflict with non-Mormons in the area.  They were driven out in 1838 and went to Illinois where they were driven away again.  They returned again in the 1900's.  The Latter Day Saints are a huge part of the history of Kansas and Missouri.  

I hope you have found this post interesting and educational.  There is so much more to learn than the bare minimum I have posted.  If you wish to find out more go to http://www.mormon.org.

Have a great week, and I'll you next Sunday. 

Sandra K. Marshall
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Sunday, April 15, 2012

Is the U.S. Postal Service Obsolete?


A lot of people don't use the post office any more.  I still use the post office to ship packages, but many of you use Fed Ex, UPS and other shipping companies.  There are those who use on-line banking and send e-cards for special occasions.  Not me, I still mail my bills, birthday, get well, Christmas, Valentine's and any other cards through the U.S. Postal Service.

On the other hand, I have a business banking account where I do all my transactions on-line.  It's simpler to do it that way.  My husband doesn't trust the internet, so he doesn't want to do internet banking for our personal accounts. 

Even though the postal service raise their prices every few years, I still think they are cheap.  Oh, they're not if you plan to do everything through email.  Frankly, I prefer to receive a thank you card, Halloween card, Christmas card or any card through the snail mail.  I save special cards, but don't save email cards.  It just loads down my computer to save everything.

What do you think about our postal service; is obsolete?

Thank you for visiting my blog and have a great week.  See you next Sunday.

Hugs,
Sandy

Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/SandraKMarshall

Sunday, April 8, 2012

Happy Easter

Hi Everyone,

I have some wonderful memories of Easter when I was a child that I would like to share with you.  We were always up early on Easter Sunday for sunrise service and a huge breakfast afterward.  Yep, I admit that the food was an enticement for me to get up before dawn.  Also, I'll acknowledge once I was at the service, which was outdoors, watching the sun come up made me glad to be there and put me in the mood for the words spoken about the resurrection of God. How could anyone deny a greater power with all that beauty surrounding them.  Not me.

After the sunrise service, we went home and changed into our Sunday best and headed to Sunday school, and then church services.  Next, we went to Grandma's house for dinner where we always had fried chicken and all the other good fattening stuff to go with it.  My mouth melts at the thought of homemade ice cream, hot pies and cakes for dessert.  Yum!

After dinner, we were handed baskets and told to find the Easter eggs hidden in the back yard, or if it was cold the eggs were concealed in the house.  We had real hard boiled eggs not the plastic kind.  You can't imagine the squeals and excitement expressed when someone found a colored egg.  It was great fun. 

Before the day was over, we were eating again.  In those days, we ate a lot, and it was all good.  LOL  Most people worked very hard back then, so they didn't gain a lot of weight.  They were lucky that way. 

Easter was a wonderful day filled with beauty, love and family.  How did you celebrate Easter when you were a child?  Was it happy for you?

Have a great week everyone.  See you next Sunday, and thanks for visiting me today.

Hugs,
Sandy

Sunday, April 1, 2012

Contest at Romance Books Or Us Starts April 1st


BUNNY HOPPING at "Romance Books R Us"! 
Prize: $50 gift Card for Amazon, Barnes and Noble and RBRU XL tee and tote!
Contest starts 1 April and ends midnight EST 21 April. Gift cards can be sent by
email anywhere but tee and tote to USA and Canadian addresses only.

To Enter:
Check all our advertising pages and find the 20 Hopping Bunnies!
List all the pages where you find the bunnies and send your entry to:
contests.rbrus@gmail.com

Come by and enjoy the fun at http://www.romancebooksrus.com and while you're there visit our blog at http://www.romancebooksrus.com.blogspot.com where you'll find interviews of some of your favorite authors.  My last blog there was on the 29th and it was about Point of View. 

Thank you for visiting my blog. 

See you next Sunday.  Have a great week. 

Hugs,
Sandy
Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1496954556
Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/SandraKMarshall
Author Page - http://www.amazon.com/author/sandramarshall