Remembering Who is in Control

And remembering the Reformation:

A mighty fortress is our God, A bulwark never failing;
Our shelter He, amid the flood Of mortal ills prevailing.
For still our ancient foe Doth seek to work us woe;
His craft and pow’r are great, And armed with cruel hate,
On earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide, Our striving would be losing;
Were not the right Man on our side, The Man of God’s own choosing.
Dost ask who that may be? Christ Jesus, it is He;
Lord Sabaoth is His name, From age to age the same,
And He must win the battle.

And tho’ this world, with devils filled, Should threaten to undo us;
We will not fear, for God hath willed His truth to triumph through us.
The prince of darkness grim — We tremble not for him;
His rage we can endure, For lo! his doom is sure,
One little word shall fell him.

That word above all earthly pow’rs — No thanks to them — abideth:
The Spirit and the gifts are ours Thro’ Him who with us sideth.
Let goods and kindred go, This mortal life also;
The body they may kill: God’s truth abideth still,
His kingdom is forever.

Words - and possibly tune - by Martin Luther, 1527

Truthtelling

In the waiting room at the eye doctor today, I had an interesting conversation with a woman who is from Venezuela. I was curious, because I had heard that if our country is not wise with our elections and politics, we could become like Venezuela. So after some superficial conversation, I asked her, "What is it like there?" She shook her head and said, "Horrible."

For dates and names, you will need to read some other source. This is just some of what she said.
It all, the decline and loss of freedom, happened in the last eighteen years. First, citizens were deceived and elected a socialist president. The government began to takeover private businesses and were unable to run them. They took over oil and made massive mistakes. She felt oil is gone, too. Socialism became Communism. Now living there is very dangerous. She has lived in the US for twenty or so years, but her mother is still in Venezuela - in a bad situation. Food is very expensive, in short supply, and her mother doesn't have enough to eat. The woman sends her boxes with food and other necessities, but the government goes through them, and her mother does not receive all she sent. Nobody is safe, and Americans who travel there are likely to be kidnapped.

Internet/cell service, etc is the slowest in the world, she says, because the government does not want the rest of the world to know what is going on. They don't want life there to be filmed. The government is trying to isolate the country from the rest of the world. Government leaders control all the media and get all the money. I didn't understand when she was telling me about the recent election, but it was something like they had someone in England count the votes. Then the government said no. So voting is not working.

The woman teared up a couple of times when talking about the country she knew as a child and what it is like today. The sad part she said, is the young people, those who have never known life when the country was better and free.

 I am mindful of this quote by Ronald Reagan:
“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”

Over the past week, there have been increasing revelations about the hideous crimes of our past president, the vile woman who desired to be president, and their henchmen. Though the facts couldn't be clearer, several so-called news sources, those who fully lie and propagandize, choose not to bring the info to their readers and listeners. It is horribly fascinating how the crimes and corruption go deeper and deeper.

But many decent Americans are still deceived and ignorant, unaware of how the Leftists have been destroying our country, how they have been changing the culture and language, reprogramming us to believe wrong is right, giving our tax money to groups and countries who want to tear us apart, allowing other countries to have our resources, even what they need to make bombs. They do not want a USA.

Before President Trump was elected, we were sliding down the same slippery slope, but now a process has started to halt it. We Americans all need to get past personality traits and hairstyle or whatever we find not to like about our incumbent president, and thank God he is willing to fight for us.

Whirlwind trip

Ashley and I left Saturday morning for a 5 pm wedding in Bethesda, Maryland. We arrived in time and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yesterday we took in as much as we could of our nation's capital, since our hotel was only seven miles from the White House. Ashley navigated, and I drove - down Wisconsin Avenue, Connecticut, Pennsylvania Avenue, and when I heard her say, "There it is!" I stopped to park.
Thus started our sightseeing and we were able to get in a lot. What we spent the most time on was the Fall White House Garden Tour, one of only two a year. We got tickets for noon, waited, then walked and walked the road around the Ellipse of the South Lawn, South Entrance, the Rose Garden, the West Wing, and it was all lovely. Toward the exit the Marine Band was playing, and as they beautifully performed America the Beautiful, there was a real sense of reverence. Here are some pix from my new phone.

Photo 1. A parting view
Photo 2. Ashley at White house.
Photo 3. The Rose Garden in front of West Wing. Roses were not blooming, but there were other pretty flowers.
Photo 4. The podium near the Oval Office in West Wing where presidents stand to speak
Photo 5. Presidents select trees to be planted. The wrought iron seating is under a Southern Magnolia chosen by Andrew Jackson that was planted in 1830. In the pic, you may see the sign with 10 on it. The brochure told which president was responsible for which tree and what kind of tree it is.
Photo 6. The Eisenhower Office Building very near the West Wing.
Photo 7. Our tickets

A quiet Wednesday

Today there was nothing I had to do, so I stayed in and piddled around the house.
For the first time since I got back from Guatemala, I actually cooked something. (I have been relying on frozen foods that I have underappreciated until now.) I peeled and cut up a sweet potato into approximately 3/4 " pieces, rolled them in melted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon, spread on a foil lined pan (easy cleanup), and baked at 400. A few minutes before they were totally done, I sprinkled them with more cinnamon and a little white sugar. Very tasty, and we know how good sweet potatoes are for us.

Yesterday was Book Club and an art duty. Last week was full of art duties!

So that is my post for today.

One more foto. The team with pinatas.

bananas

                                         
                                          Bananas with flower. Growing in the jungle.

                     
                                                       banana leaf - big and beautiful.

                             
                                          bananas for sale. From a distance, looked like flowers.

As we were leaving