End of the garden for fall...... thanksgiving coming!

It is the end of gardens in Nebraska now and days are getting shorter! Flowers are done blooming and we have brought all the plants indoors we want to try to SAVE. IT is a time for endings and new beginnings! It is a time for the golden sun on a pole to watch over the garden now till spring~

Now our thoughts turn to new beginnings with a new President elect with possibilities for HOPE and ending our wars! We celebrate our son in law coming home now from IRAQ a SECOND TIME and think of all those who have suffered trauma on both sides of these conflicts~

It seems like building SCHOOLS would be a much better solution as suggested in THREE CUPS OF TEA by Greg Mortenson~ And mostly we are glad that there are new beginnings now for loved ones coming home from WAR and into a more peaceful existence again ..... going back to school and readjusting to relationships and unwanted separations.

I have much to be thankful for as I start to think of Thanksgiving~ And mostly family, friends, groups that lend support along the endings and new beginnings -- like OPEN HEARTS and reconciling groups, reconciling friends, new NAP friends and folks how are HIV positive.

I am thankful for gatherings like tomorrow with other folks to figure out ways to help with those agonizing Waiting Lists now for folks on the margins and the need for RESPONDING -- those who have tested positive with HIV AIDS. Thanks for the folks who have tried to speak up about this quiet crisis in Central NE happening now with little notice. And finally listening to the stories being shared in concern and compassion.

Thanks for the NAP or Neb AIDS Project case workers who are trying to find emergency funds in churches, communities, collecting supplies to get people to end some of the waiting and to give HOPE ----- and looking for solutions by getting together, talking it through, finding out the discouraging facts of more clients than funding available ...... and not ignoring it anymore.

I think of the Alternative Gift Giving list I have been compiling today to stretch our thinking and holiday giving at the church..... and mostly I am thankful for new BEGINNINGS this Thanksgiving season ---- even with the GARDEN ending -- and the joy of having loved ones return from far away again and wars that need to CEASE and the HIV Wars that need to cease as well ---- and finding ways to listen to our stories, enjoy each other and try to give help to those in NEED this thanksgiving time~

OBAMANOS 2008 ------ Entering a new phase of HOPE!

On our recent trip to CA in September, we saw lots of blue signs in the mountain rural areas near Taos that said ----- OBAMANOS 2008! And sure enough, New Mexico went blue last night and this country elected Barrack Obama as the 44th President of our nation! Or as their signs said -- Obamanos 2008~! To me now it symbolizes, diversity and the voices of all people being raised through the process leading up to VOTING!

This historic and symbolic vote will ripple through the waters of our hearts and lives now in the next week ahead as HOPE ---- to start shattering the barriers of FEAR, the fences of FEAR and uplifting DIVERSITY -- through courageous HOPE and new change in the ways we can solve problems in this nation! And our mess is GREAT from the last eight years and before.

What a Victory for HOPE over FEAR --- and now I will need to step up to the plate of joining others in COMMUNITY SERVICE to do the MESSY and challenging work ahead of us! But we are all together in this work just like cleaning up the kitchen after a big meal!!

We now have a new role model for President and new models emerging for leadership of all kinds after the months of groundwork and many people who made this happen on the ground..... the GRASSROOTS that made this happen!

This is coupled with the need for giving community service daily or whenever we can to others and the HOPE through pain which shaped Obama ----- recorded in his words through his books -- "Dreams of My Father"* and the "AUDACITY OF HOPE" he internalized through his faith and pastoral leadership.

( *how did he ever have time to write two books?? These stories of struggle, a most unusual and nontradtional family story and commitment to make change -- motivate me to do service, activism, art and some writing in the future! The power of story is alive and well!)

All of this signals HOPE for many justice issues in our country! The election of Obamanos to leadership will bring a new kind of HOPE to many areas of our country and world --- and new kinds of change and solutions to problems --- some will work and some will not. We will discover new ways of coming together to care about people.... All God's children!

So my hope and renewed karma --- is symbolized through this banner pic I LOVE --- created and stitched by my friend Barb Barb in MO. We see colors and stitches of HOPE through the quiet RAINBOW of justice peeking through the opening door with its many colors of HOPE and diversity~

It is time to enjoy the many gifts of All of God's children and to feel the new warm sun coming through the door into our lives through HOPE a new day!

And what a joy to see Jesse Jackson, Oprah Winfrey from powerful movie -- the "Color Purple" and it's story that lives on now -- and TV images of people staying awake for 16 or 17 hours in Kenya to celebrate together in the village where Barrack's father came from and is buried.

Yes the Dreams of his Father were realized last night -- seeing the people in that village in Kenya where his dad grew up and where his grandma still lives --- seeing them dancing waving branches of joy from the election of Obamanos in the USA!

Last night PEOPLE of all races joined together in Grant Park, in Atlanta, Maine, Hawaii, Kenya and all around to world to CELEBRATE HOPE in new directions of leadership to start to turn this big ship around that has run aground!

We saw images of ordinary people like you and me gathered en masse last night. We then remembered all of those who died so that this time could be born in history --- crying tears of joy and happiness after deep sorrow and broken spirits for generations.

We remembered last night -- slavery, immigration, reservations, internment camps -- and the ugliness of what has gone before us, the scars from the wounds --- and how we can start the process of healing and change that brings HOPE for the future.

Hopefully, through the leadership of Obamanos and Biden, Congress and WE THE PEOPLE together at last, we can turn this country around!

The people have spoken even in the rural mountains of New Mexico near Taos ------ and thank goodness for the blue states with their Obamanos HOPE!!

I hope to wear Blue to lunch today with friends as we celebrate and give thanks at Pizza hut! And then i hope to savor the day and coming days ---- i hope to finally download my pics from our trip WEST in September -- to celebrate the trip AGAIN through photos of the mountains near Taos to the sandy shores of the ocean ..... and take in the good news of our son in law in IRAQ coming home soon!!

The universe has truly come together in a new convergence the last few weeks and months I am thinking, feeling ---- and a new spirit is moving in our hearts and country through service and action --- that can change old worn out ways of doing things but it will not be an easy road.

Our challenge now is to keep moving forward --- working for justice for All God's Children in our daily living and group actions --- Yes, the PEOPLE who want change in our world have spoken through voting and democracy!

And time to let the RAINBOWS come in our doors! And to wear the BLUE of the sky!!