More of Scotland.

Well it's been another long day. I was going to try and post a lot of pictures but I'm just so exhausted I'm only going to post a few tonight. I'll post the big numbers of pictures when I'm not so stinking tired! We have had a full day. We went to the Edinburgh Castle, The National Museum, then tonight we did this thing called the ghost tours it was so much fun. However my feet are screaming at me! Anyway here's a few pictures. ENJOY!! I'll write more about our experiences later on.

This is a view of the city from the Caslte Wall. Tonight on the ghost tours we discovered a beautiful place with even better views of the city. However it was so dark that we couldn't get good pictures so we are going back in the daylight to take more pictures of that.
This is some of the buildings once you get inside the Castle gates. Edinburgh castle is actually like a small community. Most of the Castles are like that. The palace's are the ones that are just one big massive building.
This is the "One o'Clock Gun" It is a time cannon that is fired at 1pm everyday. Now most time guns are fired at the traditional 12 noon. However the Scotsmen seem to be rather frugal as they decided that it would be a waste to fire 12 shells every day at noon so they moved it to 1 pm so they would only have to fire one shell!
This is a Chapel within the castle walls. It is the oldest buildings still standing in Edinburgh. I have picture with the date on it but couldn't find it. I think it dates back to the 14oo's. This chapel is still in use and you can even have weddings there. However the chapel is so small that it will only houst about 20 guests.
The castle was for the most part a military strategic place. Therfore a lot of soldiers lived within it's walls. In a small garden just below the chapel pictured above there is a cemtetery where the soldiers use to bury their dogs! I have more pictures of this but blogger is only letting me upload 4 or 5 pictures to a post.

I close to 350 pictures today alone so I'm sure I'll be posting plenty more. I want to tell you guys all about the war memorial I went to inside the castle it was very moving. But I'll save that for later when I'm not so exhausted.

Talk to y'all later!!!!

YAY I"M IN SCOTLAND!!!! It's about 10:15 pm here in Scotland (so about 2pm in cali and 4 pm in AR) and I am POOPED!!! it has been a long last couple of days! I'm just about ready to crawl into bed but I thought I would post a couple of cool pictures that I took of the city today before heading off to bed. I'll post lots more tomorrow night when I'm not quite so horribly tired. But anyway here are some pictures enjoy them!

This is a really pretty castle but I'm not sure which one. . I'll find out tomorrow though!!

Just another really pretty building in the city center.
This was the highlight of my evening. Watching this guy play bagpipes as if it were nothing at all! I got some video footage of this I will post later.

YAY IT'S OVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes that's right! One more year of college is behind me!!! 2-3 more semesters and I am out of here! I finished my finals on Monday. I got 3 A's and a B this semester which makes me happy happy!! Next up. . .SCOTLAND!!!!!! Yay!!!! I'm taking my computer with me and as long as I have internet access I'll be posting pictures and video's every day or two while I'm there. After that I fly to cali for the remainder of the summer. I can't decided if I want to just use this same blog for my scotland trip or start a third one that is strictly scotland. What do you think? Anyway it's 1:30 am and I still have to finish packing up my dorm tomorrow so I'll talk to y'all later!!!

Yvonne

Current Mood: Irritated

Yes this will probably turn into a lovely ranting session. I often rant about things that irritate me and this blog will be no different. The difference is I'm irritated at me!

Have you ever wanted something you couldn't have? Yeah that's the story of my life. The problem is I got what I thought it was I wanted and then after all that time waiting for it I realized I really didn't want it! What is with me???? I know you're sitting there going what are you talking about Yvonne? Well there really is no telling now is there? Its 3:19 am and I'm still awake after having visited myspace for the first time in ages. I realized that I was way behind on things and people that I've known forever are finding love and all that sickening stuff that I use to sit around and long for. Then one day I thought I found it. Well it turns out I wasn't ready for it so I'm not in a relationship anymore which is fine. I have no desire to get married anytime soon I realize that however for some reason when I see people looking at rings and talking about the loves of their lives I get jealous. WHAT IS UP WITH ME??????????????? I guess I just need to pray about it lol. Well that's ok I"m going to get smart and make money and them girls are just gonna get married, have kids and gain weight!!!!!!!!!! LoL I'm just kidding!!! I'm feeling much better now. Thanks blogger fans of mine for listening to my little rampage. I'm off to sleep now!!!!!!

Three years in College and I finally learned how to spell Bureaucracy without looking it up. . . .

You would think that after the first year of studying political science I would have a word like bureaucracy down. But that has just not been the case. For the past three years I have struggled with that word. I have tried to spell it every way imaginable and each and every time I get frustrated as the little red squiggly line appears under my poor attempt at spelling that awful word and I am forced to hit the spell check button and look it up. You would think that after the first few times I would realize that you always spell it the same way but no for some reason my brain just cannot seem to grasp this concept. Perhaps it is because I am forever trying to spell that word when I am sleep deprived and cramming to get a 15 page paper written. Or perhaps it is because I figure that the word's spelling is somehow a reflection of what it really means. The bureaucracy in this country is ever changing and rarely makes sense so why shouldn't it's spelling be the same? Odd reasoning I know but its an explanation of my inability to spell the word that doesn't make me look bad so I like it! But FINALLY after 3 years of spelling it incorrectly over and over again I think I have finally mastered it as I spelled it correctly countless times in the wee hours of this beautiful Monday morning. That's right I was once again cramming to meet a paper deadline for not one but TWO research papers. But guess what 22 pages later I have them both finished and now I have my sights set on one last 7 page research paper to finish off the semester of insanity. What's bad is after all of this horrible suffering that I have put myself through and after all the countless times I promised myself that I would never again find myself waiting until 4pm the night before a paper is due to start on it I know deep with in me that I will in fact procrastinate next semester and wait until the last minute because it seems that I don't learn from my mistakes. Hmmm that makes me think of something. I wish our bureaucracy would finally learn after years and years of making the same mistakes over and over again how to actually run an efficient organization. But alas I'm afraid that they will never learn. Although there may be hope! If I could finally Master the spelling of the word after three long years of trying then perhaps. . . .just maybe some of our bureaucrats will get their heads out of their tails and learn from their mistakes but I won't hold my breath!

Eugenics of a different kind

A warning to those with short attention spans (myself included): This blog has turned into a rather lengthy one. It started out to be a short session of ranting but turned into a bit of a research project. It will take you a few minutes to get past the research and into my actual point. If you are easily distracted by shiny things it may take a few tries to get through this blog I should know as it took me a few tries to finish it lol.

Something to keep in mind while reading this blog: I started working on it a few days ago today however I got the inspiration to finish it. It is not directed at one particular person but is directed at humans in general. If you can't handle my ranting well I won't apologize for that, ranting is one of the reasons I started this blog ;)

Ok on with the blog. . . .

As I stated above I started working on this blog a few days go as just a place to rant about things that bug me about people. I realize that I am a person and yes I do sometimes bug myself. However today I got some more inspiration to finish this blog.

Have you ever heard of eugenics? A lot of people haven't and those of us that have and know what it means are often quite appalled by it. The definition for eugenics as taken from www.dictionary.com is as follows:

the study of or belief in the possibility of improving the qualities of the human species or a human population, esp. by such means as discouraging reproduction by persons having genetic defects or presumed to have inheritable undesirable traits (negative eugenics) or encouraging reproduction by persons presumed to have inheritable desirable traits (positive eugenics).

In English this basically means getting rid of those that are deemed socially unfit in an attempt to create a perfect society. The first place that most peoples mind jump to is the Nazi's. Yes they did in fact practice a form of eugenics. However generally eugenics is practiced by sterilizing those that are socially unfit (mentally ill, disfigured, disease ridden) so that they cannot reproduce. This is known as selective breeding. The Nazi's just outright killed those that did not fit the mold of the "perfect human." This was more a form of genocide which is just as appalling as eugenics. We often point our fingers at the Nazi's and the people like Stalin, Hitler, and even Saddam Hussein for their reprehensible acts of violence against people who had no way to defend themselves. However, a lot of people don't know that the United States has taken part in some of these very activities! I know you're saying to your self "No way! Not Americans! We're known as a beacon of hope it's not possible that we took part in such things!"

Sadly it's true and it took place long before Hitler came into the picture and what's worse is our supreme court UPHELD IT!!!

the Eugenics movement began with a cousin of Darwin who professed that behavioral characteristics followed the same Mendelian laws of heredity as red hair or freckles. The philosophy caught fire in the U.S. with endorsements from the industrial leaders of the day such as Carnegie, Rockefeller, Harriman, Kellogg, and Eastman. It was also supported by the New York Times, and Harvard President Charles Eliot. 22 states passed eugenic sterilization laws, which were upheld by the Supreme Court in 1927, with a majority opinion by Oliver Wendell Holmes stating that the laws were, to prevent our country from being swamped with incompetence. By 1945, 45,127 eugenic sterilizations had been performed in the United States.

When I read Oliver Wendell Holmes reasoning for upholding these laws I was appalled! He actually said these laws were to "prevent our country from being swamped with incompetence."
If they were sterilizing people who had already had kids and couldn't take care of anymore or people who had PROVEN that they were incapable of taking care of children that would be one thing but we were sterilizing the mentally ill just for the sake of "avoiding incompetence."

By now I'm sure that those of you who didn't know about this are feeling quite disgusted with the U.S. sadly there is more. Have you ever heard of the Tuskegee experiment? I know I hadn't until last year when we studied it in a class I took. Again it is a reprehensible act that I find rather disgusting. The summary of the Tuskegee experiment is as follows:

For forty years between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service (PHS) conducted an experiment on 399 black men in the late stages of syphilis. These men who were, for the most part illiterate sharecroppers from one of the poorest counties in Alabama, were never told what disease they were suffering from or of its seriousness. Informed only that they were being treated for “bad blood,” their doctors had no intention of curing them of syphilis at all.
The data for the experiment was to be collected from autopsies of the men, and they were thus deliberately left to degenerate under the ravages of tertiary syphilis—which can include tumors, heart disease, paralysis, blindness, insanity, and death. “As I see it,” one of the doctors involved explained, “we have no further interest in these patients until they die.”

Again It makes me sick that our government actually sanctioned this! But it happened and yes it placed a dark spot in our history but the repulsiveness of the U.S. government is not the point of this blog even though it seems that way at the moment. (I warned you this wasn't for those with short attention spans!)

So what is the point of my blog? Well I titled it Eugenics of another kind for the simple fact that it was the closest thing I could come up with to describe what I'm trying to say even though it doesn't quite drive my point home. What do these things have in common that I have discussed? The Nazi Holocaust, the eugenics movement of the early 20th century, the Tuskegee experiment and sadly several other events in World history all have one common strand. In each one you find instances of people being labeled as useless or no good for reasons that in my opinion are not their fault. The Jews were born as Jews and had no say in the matter, the mentally ill of the Eugenics movement again were often born that way and those with syphilis were left to die because they fit a profile that they did not choose. I'm sure that all of you reading this find this disgusting. Most of us go on and on about how awful these types of events are but yet it seems that sometimes we take part in similar activities.

No we aren't killing Jews or sterilizing the disfigured but we often apply labels of no good, annoying, weird, or bad to people for the simple fact that they don't fit our mold of "the perfect person." Because they don't come from the same social class as us we lump them in the category of less than us or beneath us. In my honest and humble opinion that is not very Christian and I see this a lot among those in the Christian ranks.

Again I will offer my honest and humble opinion: THERE SHOULD BE NO CLASS SYSTEM IN THE CHURCH! A line of authority and chain of command yes but no class systems. A class system is simply a way of saying I'm better than you so you can't be put in a category with me you go associate with your kind. Or perhaps it's a way of saying please don't associate yourself with me you might contaminate me because after all I'm of a higher class than you and have Much higher standards. WHAT? There should be none of that in the church!

I've given you a history lesson now lets have a Bible study shall we?

In the book Acts (one of my personal favorites) it says

Acts 2:41-47
41 Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls.
42 And they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
43 And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles.
44 And all that believed were together, and had all things common;
45 And sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need.
46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
47 Praising God, and having favour with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.KJV


Now the scripture that I want to focus on is verse 44: And all that believed were TOGETHER, and had ALL THINGS COMMON. That right there eliminates any room for class systems.

If I'm not mistaken when I get baptized in Jesus name and receive the gift of the Holy Ghost it makes me a child of the king and therefore I'm royalty and guess what SO ARE YOU!! I'm not better than you just because I drive a nicer car, have more money, or dress a little hipper than you do. You're not better than me because you have a higher education, you've been in church longer or your best friends with the pastors wife! Can you tell we've gotten to the ranting part of this blog?

In the medieval days of the feudal class system your name meant everything. If you were related to the king or a Lord or Duke there was no way you would be considered part of the "lower class." So if you must insist that there is a class system in the church let me put it this way. Jesus is our daddy right? Right I knew you would agree with me! Well if Jesus is our daddy and he's the king then guess what that makes us all princes and princesses in the kingdom so to speak.

I hate it when I see people in the church not being used because they don't know how to fix their hair just right and maybe they lack some basic social skills. SO WHAT! They have a desire to be used USE THEM! We're all suppose to be working together not snubbing one another and causing hurt and pain just because someone doesn't fit your mold. Am I saying you have to be best friends with everyone that's in the church? No but you do need to show kindness and fairness to ALL your brothers and sisters.

Why did I refer to Eugenics before I started ranting? Well because in a way this is eugenics at work. We have this idea of what the perfect saint looks like and the type of people we want coming to our church or being involved in our programs and so we weed out the ones that don't fit our mold and we just let them sit on the sidelines and not be used. Guess what, if that keeps happening those ones that keep getting pushed aside may feel pushed too far and then leave. And guess what else, if other people on the outside see that you're only going to attract the kind of people your using because others are going to feel unwelcome. That my friend is a horrible form of eugenics at work. God is not willing that any should perish and we should not be either.

There is another passage of scripture that comes to my mind right now.

Gen 13:7-8
7 And there was a strife between the herdmen of Abram's cattle and the herdmen of Lot's cattle: and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land.
8 And Abram said unto Lot, Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen; for we be brethren.KJV

I heard a message preached on this passage that has stuck with me for years. It was called "Bond of the Brethren." It didn't say let there be no strife because well strife is painful and kind of annoying it simply said For we are BRETHREN. The preacher that preached this message pointed out another part of this verse that always gets over looked. It simply says "and the Canaanite and the Perizzite dwelled then in the land." The minister likened this to the world. Folks the world is watching us and if they see us being rude, snobbish and downright hateful to those that don't "fit our mold" what kind of example is that setting to the people all around us?

America finally woke up and realized how horrible Eugenics was. . . .will we?


note: some of my information on eugenics and the Tuskegee experiment was taken from the following websites

Tuskegee experiment

Eugenics

In a Rut

AGHHHH!!!!!! It's horrible. . .it's awful! I can't believe this has happened to ME!!! LoL it's really not that bad I'm over exaggerating again. But today I had a terrible realization. I who is always griping about ruts and the fact that I HATE routine have fallen into. . .A RUT!!!!!!!!!! It's true! I have discovered that I have become horrible predictable. It hit me when I walked into the cafeteria and the girl already had my plate ready because she knew EXACTLY what I would be eating. This really hurt because I have always been proud of the fact that I hate norms and traditions and anything mundane. I mean I hate driving the same route to wal-mart twice in a row! But somehow my days have fallen into a bland routine of boring predictability! SO. . .what should I do about it??? Well for starters I'm going to start eating something different in the cafeteria no more same ol same ol for me. And second off I"M GOING TO SCOTLAND!!!!!!!! WOOHOOO. Sorry I had to throw that in somehow. Perhaps I'll go on a music hunting rampage or change my wardrobe I don't know but I have to do SOMETHING! This predictable stuff is for the birds!

Homeward Bound

I'm so happy!! Mom and I just got through booking my flight home for the summer!! I get to spend about 2 1/2 months in my hometown! I had such a blast last summer I can't wait to see what this summer has in store.

Hi again. . .

Hey everybody! Sorry it's been so long since I've posted I've been crazy busy with school and everything. I can't believe it's only 2 WEEKS until finals!! I still have 3 papers to finish before then along with a few other little assignments on top of studying. I think I might go crazy! The good news is it's only 4 weeks from today until I go to Scotland!!! I am so siked about that! I plan on taking my lap top and hitting the internet cafe everyday while I'm there and updating this blog with pictures and stuff. I'll also check into yahoo messenger each day to let everyone know how it's goint. I can't wait to go!! We got our schedule for the 10 days we will be gone the other day and we are going to be BUSY!!! Anyway I need to quit procrastinating and get busy on papers. I'm going to update my other blog here in just a sec so check that out too!

Love you guys

Yvonne

God keeps blessing me!!!!

The past few days I've been kind of broke and just waiting for payday. The other day I came upstairs to my room and someone had tacked a fortune from a fortune cookie to my door that said "An unexpected payment is coming your way" Now I don't really believe in fortunes or anything like that hut I do believe in God. Well I didn't think a whole lot more about it. Then today I came back from eating in the caf and checked my mail. In my mail box was a check for $250!!! It was from Hoopa, the people that pay my scholarship. The letter simply stated that my scholarship had been increased due to an increase in budget!! Praise GOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He is so good to me!!!!!!!!!

Help!!!!!!!!!!!

I CAN'T SLEEP!!!!!!!!!! I think I'm an insomniac or something. I was doing really good there for a while being able to sleep and stuff but now I'm hardly able to sleep unless it's like after 3 am!!! I should probably do something about it. Although insomnia is kind of a good thing during finals week lol.

A New Blog. . .

I have decided to start a second blog. Now I know you must be scratching your head and saying to yourself, "But Yvonne you barely post on this one!" I know I know but I have good reason for beginning this new blog as it is totally devoted to Drama ministry. Specificly it will be a journal of my journey into this ministry that God has called me into. I may not post on that one as often as I do this one and then again I may end up writing mainly for the new one. I have titled the Blog, "My Passion, My Praise, My Ministry." You can find out more by clicking that link. I hope you all will enjoy my newest venture in the wonderful world of blogging!

Love you guys!!!!!!!!!


Yvonne

Great news in the apostolic music arena!!!!

I was checking out Sis. Jana Allards blog a few minutes ago and I was pleased to find that a wonderful apostolic quartet from California has released their debut CD!!!!!!!!!! The quartet is called freeWAY. I grew up with one of the guys in the quartet and never expected him to grow up and have such an amazing voice!! Not only that they are very annointed. I've included a link here to Sis. Allards blog about the quartet where you can see a video with some awesome samples of the guys singing. If you like great gospel music you should invest in this album.

A new direction. . . .

As you know from an earlier post, I am feeling God call me in a slightly different direction in my life. I have been attending UAM for about 3 years now pursuing a degree in political science. It has been my intention to either go to Law School or enter a Graduate program and pursue a PhD once I finish here. However I feel called to immerse myself in; I don't know what you would call it; God's work I suppose. I feel like the more I surround myself with the things of God and his people and his work the closer I will be to God.

Drama is my passion and it is what I feel like God has called me to do for him. While of course nowhere in the Bible does it say anything about drama leaders (grin) there is the command to be a witness and to spread the precious truth. I feel that Drama is a very effective tool for that. Anyway on with the story. I've been talking to God about becoming more involved in the field of drama ministry and a few times Bible School has come to mind. Then the other night I was talking to a friend at a drama practice in Conway and he asked me if I had considered gong to Bible college. He told me he thought it would be a great way to get my ministry started. To me that was like this confirmation from God(THANKS JARED!). I had already done a little bit of looking at some of the UPCI endorsed Bible colleges and I knew that if I went I would probably want to go to Indiana Bible College. I came home from that drama practice and began doing a little more research. The more I look at it and pray about it and think about it, the more I think I really want and need to go. I've discovered that IBC is about half the cost of UAM. The downside to that is you can't get federal financial aid to go. So now I'm off to try and save roughly 7-$8,000 for my first year of Bible school. I've simply told God that if it is his will for me to be at IBC then he will make a way and provide the money. I'm going to continue to pray about this and seek God's will. I'm asking all of you to do the same. Your prayers are very much appreciated and needed.

all my love,

Yvonne

A success

Well the Easter Drama is over and I couldn't be happier!! Lots of time, effort, stress, prayer, fasting, and work went into it. I so appreciate all the people that helped make it possible. I couldn't have done it without you. At first when the drama was over I felt horrible there were several mistakes that I could see, things that didn't go as planned. Then tonight in the evening service I heard over and over how it had touched and stirred different ones and someone also got the holy ghost tonight!!! I was also blessed and refreshed in a beautiful way. The best way to put it is I was drunk on the holy ghost!!! When the service was over I felt like I had just gotten off the phone from a 3 hour conversation with my best friend. Anyway I just wanted to let y'all know that the drama went great!

Love y'all

Yvonne

Two Days. . . .

Well it's only two days until the Easter Drama!!! I know that God has great things in store for this. Pray tomorrow's practice goes great!!!!!!!!!! We need things to go flawlessly. Thanks for your prayers and again pray that we touch someones life.

Yvonne

A Directional Change

When I was living in Crossett we often had an evangelist by the name of Bro. Proctor come and preach for us. Bro. Proctor was famous for stopping in the middle of his preaching and saying "I feel a directional change." We always thought it was kind of comical. A few days ago however I think I litterally experienced a directional change. I'll be quite honest it scared me at first and I'm still completely uncertain. I felt all of a sudden like God was completely changing the direction I thought my life was headed. This is scary for me because I thought I had my life all planned out and it's like God is saying "psst hey blondie I don't want you to go that way I want you to go this way!" The best thing I know to do in this situation is hit my knees and talk to God about it and then hop up and change directions to fit God's plan. While yes I may welcome some of the changes in my life I am a bit scared about some of what God may have in store for me. So anyway I guess I'm asking for you all to pray with me about this. When it isn't 2 am and I'm not half asleep I'll tell you a bit more about my situation. Until then keep me in your prayers.

Love always

Yvonne

Just Because. . .

I woke up this morning wanting to do something special for someone. I don't know why but everyonce in a while I just like to make my mom smile. Perhaps it's everything she does for me or just the simple fact that she is and always will be my mommy. While yes I celebrate Mothers Day I actually hate conventional Holidays. I think everyday should be Mothers Day. So today I sent my mom flowers. I didn't do much just two Gerber Daisies and some babies breath but I think I succeeded in making her smile.





If you have the privelege of having a mother that is living do something nice for her "Just because"

A sad day for me. . . .

Well today I am very sad. As some of you know I have been working for the Huckabee campaign in an attempt to get him ellected. Today John McCain cinched the nomination by winning all four of the states today and therefore Huckabee is dropping out of the race. I truly believe Huckabee is the best candidate for the whitehouse but alas that will not happen. So for now I will mope and perhaps cry for a day or two and then pick up the pieces of my broken heart and move over to the McCain camp and do everything I'm capable to do to prevent Barrack Obama or Hillary Clinton from wining the whitehouse in general election.

Ok Ok I know this was a bit overdramatic but I was trying to get my point accross!
I really am dissappointed in the conservative party for not seeing Huckabee for the conservative he truly is.

An easter drama update. . . .

Well guys it's less than 3 weeks away and I don't mind telling you I WANT TO PULL MY HAIR OUT!!!!!! LOL no it's not quite that bad but there have been a couple times where I wondered if it will come together. I know that it will it's just stressful sometimes especially when you can't get everyone to the practices due to conflicting schedules and such. Anyway just please remember to keep us in your prayers. I really want this to be a tool of ministry. I know that this is the area of the church God intends for me to be used in and I'm so thankful for that opportunity. The drama is called "Through the Eyes of Mercy" and it tells the story of the crucifixion from the perspective of the adulteress woman. Please pray that everything falls together and we have an annointing on us that will somehow reach someone and show them the wonderful Mercy of God.

The cast and crew to pray for are

Destiny
Debbie
William
Leah
Joy
Charles
Anthony
and ME!!

Thank you all for your prayers they mean a lot!

Love
Yvonne