The line of people anxiously awaiting the arrival of Sarah
Palin wrapped around the Field House,around the football
field,down the block and "as far as you could see."
I was standing in that line along with my four oldest
children, Bertina, Tabitha and Zach Smelser, and Shanda
Walker.
Together we braved the wind in 40-degree weather for over
two hours.
The rally was scheduled to start at 4:15 and the doors opened
more than two hours before the event. Security wasn't able to
get everyone through the metal detectors by the time it
started.
When we finally were in sight of the Heiges Field House
the police began announcing that after admitting 4,500 they
would be closing the doors. Leaving the line of 1,500
remaining outside feeling a mixture of frustration and anger.
We hovered around the closed doors and watched as some people
started expressing their emotions in rather unbecoming ways.
We were being asked to go the Luhrs Center to watch the speech
via a live broadcast. Whoopee!! Perhaps our desire to feel
immediate warmth kept us from stomping off in a huff and
driving home.
We asked a campaign aid if he would please
let Sarah Palin know of the overflow crowd that would be
waiting and hoping to still see her personally in the Luhrs
Center. We were told that he would certainly try his best. This
young man had definitely taken alot of heat and verbal abuse
which was really unfortunate.
The children ran ahead of us towards the Luhrs Center and
suddenly started screaming and shouting,"She's here! She's
here!" It was after 5:00pm and the Straight Talk Express
Bus was driving through the parking lot on the way to the
Heiges Field House.The children saw Sarah Palin through the
bus window and she was waving at them!
We quickened our step, suddenly excited again and entered the
Luhrs Center.
Warmth,cushioned seats and restroom facilities helped
us forget the disappointment we had all been feeling.What
really sent our blues pack-in though was when after viewing
the speech on a hugh screen we spotted the guy in the red jacket! (Remember him?) The secret service were moving around the stage and the people were getting excited.
Chanting erupted," Sarah, Sarah,Sarah!"
And then the First Dude walked onto the stage!!
Followed by SARAH PALIN!!!
Sarah had gone back to the bus and changed her clothing when
she was finally informed of all those leftover people in the
Luhrs Center.
She and her husband both spoke to the crowd and then Sarah
posed for pictures and signed autographs!
I rushed the stage at the end determined to shake Sarah
Palin's hand. Kramer told me that I was acting strange jumping
around. Sarah did look at me funny and passed over my hand at
the first attempt. My sad misfortune was that I had developed
a sore in my nose and it had become swollen and red,
bulbous and hideous, definitely an eyesore. Perhaps I
frightened her, but I'm thankful that she looked beyond my
grotesque appearance and finally on the second attempt
shook my hand!
What a neat experience despite the cold and not being able to get in. I'm glad it worked out that you got to shake her hand after all - did you get a picture of it?
Haha!Mike is a good friend of ours who will be driving us home for Thanksgiving, as his parents just moved to Maryland at the beginning of the semester. Lord willing, you'll get to meet him the Sunday we're home. :)
Wow... I have fond memories of Kramer and I trying to get close to John McCain to shake his hand! :D Soon the Hardmans will have political influence if they keep attending rallys and meeting important people.
Hey - The seminar in Annandale will end at noon on Friday a week from today. So I could come see you guys on Friday afternoon/evening, or anytime on Saturday or Sunday, whatever works well for you all - though I'll want to split my Sunday attendance between Gettysburg and Exton, doesn't matter to me which time at which place. I haven't really decided if I'm going to drive back home on the following Monday or Tuesday, so if none of those days are good, I could just decide to stay up there on Monday. :)
We were treated last evening to Apple Turkey Burgers
masterfully grilled by Kyle. Fourteen burgers
dressed up fashionably in crisp green lettuce leaves,
rockin' red tomatoes, totally teasing onion rings and
punchy tempting dill chips.
Imagine all of the above dancing in pools of ketchup, mustard
and mayo in a gazebo of 100% whole wheat.
This was truly an end of summer mealtime sensation and
I didn't even mention the delightfully warm peach cobbler...
Graham has joined the Gettysburg Braves football team.
What an experience this has been for him. Despite the
cumbersome uniform, hot midday 3 hr. practices and
bruised body he remains excited and committed to football.
Kramer, Tess, Nora and I have taken to running. We
started just running the track at the middle school but
have changed gears and now run over a three mile course
on the battlefield.
Kramer is running at a faster pace than the girls and myself.
Last night he ran the entire course without walking.
He is preparing to run cross country next fall with the
high school team.
Kyle sometimes joins us for our runs and despite his
decree that he hates running he's actually a very good
runner.
Timster continues to ride 16 miles daily on his bike.
I believe for him it started as a desire to get in shape but
now I think it's more because he just plain enjoys it.
The summer months of 2008 are passing swiftly and
my family is looking forward to fall.
May the days and months ahead be blessed with opportunities
for you and your family to draw closer to one another.
Most importantly may your family and mine continue on
on our quest to draw closer to God.
Sounds exciting. I have wanted to do similar things, but never seem to fit it in. Adam has done it on his own and is on the cross country team at FC this year.
I have a great deal of admiration for your efforts at exercise. I'm just down-right pathetic when it comes to keeping up a routine of any sort. Here's to attempt number 43,976
I was looking forward to going with you, but you're welcome, of course, to go without me on Friday. It's really hard for me to make any plans at all, because I never know when I'll get called to work. Quite frustrating. I guess Thursday or Saturday won't work for you?
I could write you a paragraph explaining everything
that caused me to feel discouraged today and undoubtedly
it would discourage you as well. So I'll only share the
small part of my day that made me smile.
Today I didn't get outside at all to enjoy it's
loveliness and I felt rather miserable tending a necessary
indoor task. Working alone sorting through a mountain
of winter clothing screaming to be stored away for the
fast approaching summer I wasn't feeling very happy.
When the tiniest voice interrupted my sullenness and
my ears strained to hear, he who was joyfully singing.
My sweet baby who will turn three years old this
month was singing "The B - I - B - I - E, yes that's
the book for me!"
He was joyfully singing.
A very simple song that my
heart needed to hear!
YAY!!! I am glad that we are friends too! I hope that you know what great kids you have. I have really enjoyed having them around this weekend! Have a great day!
Aw, that is so sweet. Precious little voices. :) Oh, and I am glad to hear you didn't roll on the floor laughing. Somehow it doesn't sound very comfortable. :)
Oh, they did behave! They just liked making strange poses and faces for the photos. :)
As for who all is going to camp, that would be the Amoros kids, Kathy Delgado, Darwin Paz, Jonathan and Samuel B, and me (I'm going as a counselor this year, though, not a camper).
Oh, yes! We have borrowed McDonald's bathroom before, also! We usually bought a sweet tea for $1, but sometimes we bought more.
I know how those projects go! We thought this one would take 2-3 weeks, but once we got into it, we realized all the extra things we were going to need to do (down to replacing the subflooring) and it got more and more complicated. I'm so excited to be this close to the end!! We still need to set the toilet and sink and once the shower is completely tiled, grouted and sealed, we can use it, too! I'm ready for this to be done!!
You know I gotta say it takes me alot of time. I have the ability to go on little sleep and so I do alot of it when my kids go to bed so I'm not doing this when they are awake. I clip MILLIONS of coupons and they help me. My 4 year old clips and my baby makes a huge mess with the extra papers! All the coupon organizing takes alot of time too. But all the planning and additional research is what takes me time. The shopping itself is time consuming. My husband's job took a drastic 20% pay decrease 2 months ago and we were stuggling so I started doing this a month ago and have picked it up pretty quickly. The other thing that takes time is sorting it and putting it away and then donating it to shelters. It's worth it to me right now cause we just need the extra money and free stuff. But I will be beginning homeschooling (my daughter will be 5 in 1 month) in Sept and I just don't know how much of it I will be able to continue to do. My husband and I are hosting a Father Daughter Retreat in Sept too which is turning out to be alot of work plus my daughter's birthday party and starting homeschooling and my husband has a more than full time job (he usually puts in about 55+ hours) and he's in school getting his masters in business and we both teach Bible class. Did I mention we have 2 kids?!?! So I just don't know how much time I'll be able to put into it in the next few months so I really wanted to make these weeks count.
You must have an old e-mail address for us - didn't get your e-mail, but I looked on the church directory and sent the recipe to your new e-mail address - be sure to change ours!
that is definitely soemthing to be thankful for, can't wait till our little one gets here, can't believe it's only 10 weeks away, it has completely flown by, still have so much to do
Carla called me early to sing a birthday
greeting. However I was sleeping in so I missed her call.
Graham played the birthday song for me on his
Mandolin.
My sweet mother and father called me to wish me a Happy
Birthday!
Kyle gave me a tulip the color of the sun.
Lori brought me a delicious cake with
strawberries in the center.
Anna came with her sweet mother to share fresh
baked bread with me. I'm excited to plant their gift of
Freesia bulbs in my garden.
Their mom sang the birthday
song for me over the telephone.
Carla called again in the afternoon and this
time I was awake! I enjoyed listening to her rendition of
Happy Birthday.
Her family came and sang a birthday greeting
outside my front door then presented me with a jug of
chocolate milk.
Tess decided BLT's for dinner would be perfectly delicious
and I made 2 Lemon Merinque pies which we shared with
Kyle.
'Twas a lovely day, spent with my precious family.
Full of wonderful friends and surprises!
Thank you!
I'll keep posting about the puppies. Right now we are just loving them and thinking that it will be really hard to let them go. If we find the right people, though, I think it would be okay...We have a criteria list of potential adoptive parents for the puppies :)
Thanks. I got the email, but it was blank. We are juggling today. Bri has critical thinking, this would be at 11, then bball and then poliitcal disc. here. It might be too crazy. I'll see. Thanks!
If your kids are coming over after basketball, how about if I bring them back into town. I have to come to bring Z to practice at 6. I am already driving in. Ok?
Mighty good party, my dear Charlotte. Sorry I had to pass on the party games. It's a nervous habit you know. I'm nervous about looking silly in front of all my friends LOL Love you!!!
I recieved your comment. Thanks, I hope you have a nice day also! Oh by the way the play is called Reach it's based on true stories from teens in my highschool.
