Favorite Thing…. the “new” IGA store in Key Village.  Houchens is now  IGA and the store is like brand new! It’s easy to shop there, less crowded and  the prices are good. Check ‘em out and see for your self.

Mother’s Day may be over but it’s a day I want to remember the rest of this  year and do something special for my Mom from time to time. She’s now  92 ½ years old and lives in a retirement home in Lexington with 34 other women. At this stage  in her life, she doesn’t need anything or want much. So I try to spend time with her and reminisce about things we’ve done.

I also enjoy socializing with the Ashland  Terrace  ladies. There’s Lucille who sits near the front door and visits  with  people as they  come and go. Gertrude lives on the same hall as Mom. She and her husband owned a drugstore in Lexington that was a hangout for my high school. Had the best cherry cokes!  

Betty lives next door to Mom and has four daughters. Betty always greets me with a hug and kiss. Helen is Mom’s neighbor across hall and she hails from Ohio. She’s quite a talker and we’ve been sharing family photos with each other.

Our income tax refund check a few days ago. In the same  envelope was a card about a U.S.  government website: mymoney.gov. This website is “dedicated to teaching all Americans the basics about personal finance.” It’s “your trusted source for financial information” and it’s managed by the Federal Financial Literacy and Education Commission.  I know a group for this Commission to target with financial literacy…. the United States Congress. David and I had a big  laugh  over this. Here’s a website for financial literacy and education, funded by  taxpayer dollars and run by our government who is head over heels in debt! Trillions of dollars in debt. That’s where I’d go to get financial information, wouldn’t you? Sure. Another example of our  government spending money in an area that it shouldn’t be. Now, I believe financial literacy is important, don’t get me wrong. But it’s  not  the government’s responsibility to be “dedicated to teaching all Americans about it”. There are thousands of examples like this, where our government is spending  tax money on “things” they have no business being involved with.

Speaking of government spending…an article on the front page of Wednesday’s Courier Journal was   ”FEMA says disaster victims owe $22 million.” FEMA says they mistakenly paid thousands of Americans who were victims of natural disasters. They admit its  their own fault. What a surprise!

Another government agency spending tax funds and doesn’t know what it’s doing!  And President Obama and other liberals in Congress  think the U.S. government can run a health care program?  

Sure they can.

They can run it and our county right   into total bankruptcy.

Recently, I bought a book at the Library’s book sale about the 911 tragedy. I paid $1.00 for “Portraits of 9/11/01”  that once  retailed for $30.00.  Before I made my big purchase, I  read a few of the stories and decided I wanted to read more about some of the 3,000 plus people who lost their lives on 9/11/01. There are 555 pages of pictures of people who were killed that day by Osama Bin Laden. The first story is about Gordy Aamoth, who loved to play golf and the last one is about Igor Zukelman, father of a 3 year old son,  from the Ukraine who became an American citizen earlier that year.      

Sometime after the horrific events of September 11, newsroom staffers at the New York Times began to ask about the real people, the names and faces behind the unimaginable statistics.

The newspaper ran  1,910  stories  “as snapshots of lives interrupted as they were being actively lived”. Later, they were compiled into the book “Portraits of 9/11/01.

Sunday, May 1, 2011. What a day! We received the grand news that Osama Bin Laden had been killed! What a victory for our country! I don’t know about you, but I got chill bumps watching folks cheering and singing our national anthem at the White House and waving American flags,  after Bin Laden’s death was announced!  

We should never forget 9/11/01 and the people who were killed that day. This enemy  attack on our county  should be taught in schools and remembered in our homes. Our children and grandchildren should know  about  and remember this day.

World Magazine listed 17 “Deadly Serious: Al-Qaeda attacks since  August 1998”.  I didn’t add up the casualties or  the number injured but they number in the  thousands!  Sebastin Gorka,  a fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, is known for his expertise on Al-Quaeda and lectures extensively on the topic. He points out that Al-Qaeda “has trained and written seriously about how to make fighters deadly. They take seriously building the capacity to do large amounts of damage to Americans.”  We need to remember this and so do our leaders in Washington D.C.

In closing, I want to thank the Ladies Auxiliary of Bethlehem Separate Baptist Church. I enjoyed being with you all.

And one more thing, before you spend all your income tax refund, here are some ideas from Crown Financial Ministries:1) Give to your local church. 2) Be generous with those in need. 3) Fund a mission trip. 4) Set up an emergency fund. 5) Pay down your debt. 6) Pay for Christmas now and 7) Invest in your Family…. take that weekend trip you have always dreamed of with your loved ones and build lasting memories.

Till next week.