Very fair and well presented. I think it is easy for both sides and for our own groups to categorize and stereotype millions of people into right or left, Democrat or Republican. And I agree with you totally on the fear that someone from the fringe, irregardless of the side they are on, doing something stupid that will hurt us all as a nation. That is where I have to give it to God and trust in Him. I admire you for opening up this discussion and being willing to really discuss it. Kudos to you.

Regarding freedom of speech, it was the liberal Democratic party that was considered traitors, anti-American and enemies of the state when we spoke out against the war in Iraq...the war we didn't think was moral, worth the trillions of dollars spent, or legally justified. It was the conservative Republican groups calling us that. We were demonstrating our rights to freedom of speech, just as you are doing. Right now the shoe is on the other foot. I understand your agony in feeling you are being handed an outcome you don't like. I felt the same way when Bush was president. Thank you for letting me share the opposing perspective.

I respect your honesty in stating your position on these very important issues. That takes a lot of courage, especially in today's environment. But know that just as strong as your convictions are, there are God loving people who have opposing views to your own. Just as you feel the current political views are being forced down the throats of conservatives like yourself, I have felt, along with millions of others, the exact same way the past 8 years as ideals, principles and laws were forced down my throat by those in power. I am a firm believer in the principles taught by Christ. I am my brother's keeper. I am to help the weak, the poor, the down trodden, those that cannot help themselves. I also firmly believe that it is my moral responsibility to take care of those in my family and my community. I am a hard working mother who has made a great living in my life time. I worked very hard for what I have, but I also know that no matter how hard I worked, my personal wealth was also a result of all the customers who supported my business and bought my products. Because I have been so blessed, I also believe in giving back. If that means higher taxes, so be it. I encourage you to watch other news channels in addition to Fox news so you get an idea of all perspectives of the issues. As you said, be well informed. You may still come to the same conclusions, but any one news channel is biased. Collecting multiple views is always a healthy thing. I applaud you for standing up for what you believe in. Be safe in Washington. And like the one gal said, take comfy shoes and advil.

Stats don't work. My feed to Facebook posted without any of my inserted images that were in the post itself.

That looks like a party I'd like to go to, so colorful and fun looking.

I have thoroughly enjoyed your month of balance of photos, snippets on life and storytelling. I hope you will consider doing it again soon. And that pie looks scrumptious! How do you make such perfect crusts. I always fail miserably at that part.

As a photographer I post lots of photographs and use the photo album feature quite extensively. I also use Mozilla Foxfire as my web browser. Two features I would love to see added that would make it easier to work with photos in Typepad. When creating a new post, it would be nice if the wysiwyg screen would expand to the same width as the dimensions of your blog template so you really do see the same thing that will be posted. It would also ensure text lines up where you think it is going to. Right now this is all a bit of a guessing game when posting multiple photos. 2nd feature - would love the post screen to grow to show the whole post as you typed versus having to scroll back and forth, up and down. When I insert a new photo, it goes to the bottom of the screen, they I have to scroll back up to see where my typing is so I can start typing again for the verbage on the next photo. A virtual guessing game today where things will really publish, making it difficult to queue up posts ahead of time because I'm never quite sure how they will look posted. Often a few minor revisions are needed for best readability of the blog. Thanks for listening! Debbie

Totally amazed at the photos you capture!!! Mine always come out so crappy because of poor lighting.

Wow Jen, you definitely cranked it out this weekend! Love all your torn effects. The dinosaur layout, very cool how the dinosaur is popping his head out above the photos. The warm lighting on the passover layout is wonderful, just a warm glow about it. Love reading your blog!

WOW Jen, fabulous photos! Amazing ones of the osprey in flight...but the egret trying to come in for breakfast...that was priceless, made me giggle.

Thena, quite a beautiful prayer poem. You will be in my prayers today. God bless!

Miss Thena, you are quite an inspiration. I try to live this way too, not always easy, but well worth it :) God bless you!

Sounds wisdom from a wise woman. Now if only every one will take it :)

Oh and yeah, you do reminder me of a sweet and loving Mother Goose, LOL. Who wouldn't want to hang around her!

Thena, I so thoroughly enjoy reading your blog and poems. Keemp 'em coming because they always put a smile on my face :)