This poor child has been put into this horrible situation.  I cannot believe that her parents could not protect her better than this.  Some are defending these photos and I can’t even imagine why.  She is not 18 yet and won’t be for ANOTHER THREE YEARS!  Come on parents of America, this is NOT okay.  Protect your children from themselves and others.  Modesty is important.  Shame on all those involved for allowing this to happen.  She is only 15.  Hollywood is obviously no place for role models as almost every single one is turning toward inappropriate behaviour.  I had actually thought maybe this girl would be someone who would be popular and stay mostly clean.  I am only partially shocked that her parents and her Disney reps would allow this.  Yes, I am aware that they have issued an “apology.”  Wouldn’t you if you thought your billion dollar child was about to flush her career and young fans down the toilet?  I had no idea that it would happen this young.   So much for the innocence of youth.

**Edit, photo not inserted b/c I do think it is offensive**

Mind you, this photo is being written about because of her public “clean girl” image and her very young age.  I have nothing against tasteful artistic photos.  However, something that is very nearly child [insert p word in reference to inappropriate photos b/c I don't want my blog to come up in a google search] is ENTIRELY and always will be inexcuseably wrong. 

I’ve been ruminating about writing this post for some time now.  I hear talk in so many different places from many different people in different walks of life longing for simpler times and I always find that sort of odd.  Don’t get me wrong, I don’t long for more complicated days or anything…  However, I have noticed that there is something glorious to me about living in the city.  However somehow things can be misconstrued as less pure or less simple.  I’m not sure how this misunderstanding perpetuates itself but sometimes I wonder if it is from an escapist mentality.

You know, I think my bottom line philosophy is to each his own.  Live and let live.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart mind soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.

After all that, it doesn’t really matter where you live and I don’t think that God wishes we were in one place or the other.  I really think that God is most pleased when His children find themselves happy and fulfilled with what their hand finds to do.

Personally in my life I don’t see how it is possible for my husband to take dominion any more than he already has.  My life is so wonderful.  We live in a big wonderful, mostly new gorgeous home with tons of toys and a car to drive about in and nice strollers for the children and play equipment in the backyard.  I have time to read books [if I want to] and I can handle all the workload by myself without flipping out. 

I am so thankful that we live on this earth and in the United States of America where we are free to move about as we please.  I am thankful that in this great country there is room enough for all of us to live what is in our heart.  I am thankful that whether we are in the city or country it is our enjoyment of that chosen lifestyle that is pleasing to God.  I am thankful that we don’t have to “fight the man” to please God, but that we can just be the best whatever we set our hands to.  I am thankful that He does not dictate the terms of our life but that we get to pick it out with the blessed free will that He gave us.

You see, to me that does equal a simple life and simple times.  I don’t recall the pagans trying to burn down my house anytime recently or any heathen raging in the streets.  I am well aware of the world’s turmoil but I am thankful for where God has placed me and my family.

So a heartfelt thanks to my husband who through all his hard work, has taken dominion over this earth to provide myself and the children with the option to choose what we do with our time.  What a blessing.  He is so hot.

Okay.  Lets just say I made a mistake thinking that a stylist [who btw, has been cutting for 13 years] could cut a simple chin length bob.  Lets just say that after arriving home and straight ironing the HORRID job she did blow drying my hair that Aaron had to trim some missed spots.  Dude.  I didn’t even know it was possible.  She spent the entire time saying that I had a cowlick that was making my hair longer on my left hand side than my right hand side.  Let me assure you, the reader, that I have dealt with this hair for nearly 30 years now and I have never been told that.  OMG.  I just cannot express in words what a craptastic experience that was.  PLEASE do not go to this salon unless bad haircuts do not bother you.  After having paid $23 dollars I now get to go to another stylist [that I should have gone to begin with] and pay again to have it done right.  SHeeez…  This is punishment for laziness combined with impatience.  I was lazy and indecisive for months on where to go get my hair cut and what cut to pick.  It started to look so bad on a daily basis by the time I decided, that I needed it done NOW!  Mistake.  So this lady who has been cutting for 13 years keeps telling me about my cowlick and keeps telling me that I have trust issues, etc etc etc.  So yeah, I will NEVER set foot in craptastic Sams again.  Please someone remind me if I forget in a few years.  Faithe Weiner is the best stylist I have ever had cut my hair, and it was a mistake to get impatient.  If you live in the Fort Worth area, she is the one to go to!!!! 

We’ve got cabin fever!  My sister-in-law Claire was already singing that song 40 minutes into the trip.  Not a good sign. ;)  Here the kids have just gotten their first surprise pack from mom-mom.

The Mississippi River bridge with the Welcome to Tennessee sign up ahead.

A couple of happy city kids holding chickens

Kathryn, Mariah, Patterson and Caleb.

During the rainy drizzley times in TN, the boys found playing with these waffle blocks on the front porch entertaining.  Titus and Patrick built a jail house for the kitty cat.  If you look closely you can see the poor kitty inside.

Caleb, Patterson, Patrick and Kathryn working hard in Aunt Bethany’s future garden [they got paid $.50 apiece!]

Buddies, Patterson and Caleb.

A trio of trouble, Eva, Annabelle and Jessie.

Annabelle and Eva, who apparantly love shoes.  I knew they were related to me!

Another time during the persistent spring rain/drizzle the boys [Patrick, Patterson, and Caleb] played “War.” They decided to shoot any blue “federate” cars that drove by.  Apparantly in Tennesse the war isn’t over. 

Here starts the fun playing in the rain run off creek.  Note that Jessie is still happy and mostly dry.

Pierce riding the bike through the runoff creek.

Mariah stops long enough to give me a pretty smile.

Jessie fell down in the creek a little, is now wet and no longer happy.

Annabelle and Eva having fun throwing rocks into the water.

Caleb smiling his usual mischevious smile.  Nothing to see here!

Striking a silly pose.

Fun splashing.

Peyton and Pierce having fun.

Doing the long jump over the runoff creek?

Boot dumping time.  This happened so many times!

Moving branches to let the runoff flow more freely.

Kathryn gives me a cute smile.  Note that she is still mostly dry too.

Sweet little Annabelle.  Could she be more darling??

Patrick riding the bike through the water.

Patrick stopping long enough to give me a cute smile.  We miss you mom-mom!!

Clearly another mischevious boy…  Titus is a cutie!

UGH!  WET SHOES and SOCKS!!!

Looks like the bucket boat got the better of him!

Cute Patterson.

Riding downstream in the bucket boat!  What fun!

A still mostly dry Patterson forging upstream

What a cute baby Samuel, braving the drizzle to come play!

Caleb and Kathryn forging upstream.

Pierce pushing “Admiral Peyton” around in another bucket boat.

Bucket boat wins again!  Or was Patterson somehow involved…

Sweet Eva.

Admiral Peyton rowing with a shingle oar… 

Caution:  boys at play in a very fun runoff stream!

Buddies Patrick, Caleb and Patterson.

Very cold and mostly wet Vaughn children trying to pose for a cute picture.

A happily mostly dry Jessie comes back out to play.  This time she is content to just throw rocks in the stream without walking through it. 

Having fun, throwing rocks in.

Giving mommy a cute smile.  [man, am I loving mom-mom's Nikon]

Here is Uncle Paul helping Kathryn learn to milk a cow.  When it was Aunt Claire’s turn to try, Kathryn promptly said, “If you want Aunt Claire, I can show you how to do it.”

I think Samuel was finished taking pictures….

Blessed [by Martina McBride]

I get kissed by the sun
Each morning
Put my feet on a hardwood floor
I get to hear my children laughing
Down the hall through the
Bedroom door
Sometimes I sit on my
Front porch swing
Just soaking up the day
I think to myself, I think to myself
This world is a beautiful place

I have been blessed
And I feel like I’ve found my way
I thank God for all I’ve been given

At the end of every day
I have been blessed
With so much more than I deserve
To be here with the ones
That love me
To love them so much it hurts
I have been blessed

Across a crowded room,
I know you know what I’m thinking
By the way I look at you
And when we’re lying in the quiet and
No words have to be said
I think to myself, I think to myself
This love is a beautiful gift

Repeat chorus

When I’m singing my kids to sleep
When I feel you holding me
I know

Repeat chorus

1. That “ya’ll” and “fixin’ to” are a legitimate part of the English vocabulary. If you don’t say these phrases on a regular and consistent basis, we know right away that you aren’t from our neck of the woods. Oh, and “neck of the woods” – you have to say that too.

2. Chicken Fried Steak is a required part of every diet. Extra credit for mash potatoes, corn on the cob, and fried okra. And for the record, it’s not chicken fried steak unless it’s smothered in white cream gravy. I’ve heard rumors about restaurants in other states putting brown gravy on a fried chicken cutlet and trying to pass it off as chicken fried steak on the menu. That should be a crime, punishable by law.

3. Animals were made for eating. Get ready for the hate mail. I don’t mean to offend anyone here, but you can count the Vegetarians in our state on one hand. We like our crispy bacon and our backyard burgers. And while we’re on the subject, BBQ is not really BBQ unless it’s made from BEEF! What’s up with that faux pork BBQ stuff in AL, TN, and GA?

4. Humidity = Hair spray. Enough said. If you want to know which brand works best, ask any female from Houston. Trust me, these gals know their hair products. Should one of those Texas-sized tornadoes blow through town, they might lose their homes, but their big, shellacked hair helmets will remain right smack in place, not a hair out of place.

5. You can do serious jail time for picking bluebonnets (our state flower). Okay, not really, but we continue to pass along this tall Texas tale to our children and grandchildren in order to scare them half out of their wits, so they’ll leave these beauties untouched on the side of the road.

6. There is no such thing as “authentic Mexican food.” I’m guessing that some health freak in California probably coined the phrase. Enchiladas, by law must be topped with chili con carne, cheese, onions, and sitting in a pool of grease in order to qualify for Tex-Mex. Restaurants fixing them any other way in this state won’t be in business for long.

7. The weather is as unpredictable as a quirky middle school romance. It can be below freezing in the morning and in the 80’s by mid-afternoon. Oh, and when it freezes over every decade or so, everything shuts down because we don’t know what to do. Those who venture out usually end up on the evening news standing next to their banged-up car in a ditch with their heads bowed in shame.

8. There is only one “UT.” Wait, you didn’t know there’s another college out there claiming to be UT with some skewed shade of orange and white? (Cough, cough, Tennessee) I myself didn’t discover this fact until I traveled to Nashville for the first time in 1999 and saw the UT logo on shirts in the airport. I made a comment to my friend picking me up that it was “very cool that people as far away as Tennessee were following the Horns.” Yep, true story.

9. There is no such thing as a stranger. We are the “friendly state” and with that honor comes the responsibility of smiling, waving, or saying “hi” (or a combination of all three) to passers-by. If you don’t respond to our kind gesture, we automatically assume you are: A) hard of seeing and hearing or B) from New York.

10. We are proud, but not prideful. Big difference. We simply take great pride in being from Texas and can’t imagine living anywhere else. Whoops, I meant to say we are proud we are from Texas. ☺

Not from Texas? Well, bless your heart–we love you, anyways! Now, I gotta go ya’ll

 

EDIT**  Being a proud native Texan, I found this very funny even if not 100% accurate.**

“Texas, Our Texas“

Texas, Our Texas! all hail the mighty State!
Texas, Our Texas! so wonderful so great!
Boldest and grandest, withstanding ev’ry test
O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest.
(chorus)Texas, O Texas! your freeborn single star,
Sends out its radiance to nations near and far,
Emblem of Freedom! it set our hearts aglow,
With thoughts of San Jacinto and glorious Alamo.
(chorus)

Texas, dear Texas! from tyrant grip now free,
Shines forth in splendor, your star of destiny!
Mother of heroes, we come your children true,
Proclaiming our allegiance, our faith, our love for you.

Chorus

God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.
God bless you Texas! And keep you brave and strong,
That you may grow in power and worth, throughout the ages long.

Here is the website you can visit to see the updates.  http://www.proclaimliberty.us/

I just visited with them and the family at his house today and I have never seen a more black and white miracle concerning someones life.

He is a living miracle.

madcap laughter ensues…