I can remember her now, slipping into the side door of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Asheville, N.C. She put all the money that she had made on turning in empty soda bottles into the metal container, took out the Candle Lighter and slowly walked to the front of the church. There at the Alter she lit her candle and knelt before the Lord and prayed as hard as she knew how for God to get her a horse. This went on for many years. This little girl loved horses more than anything else in the world. The family weren't rich, but her Daddy would take her to Ed's Ranch on Saturdays and lead her around the pastures and trails. This was all they could afford, but this made her very happy for many years. Living in the city, in an apartment there was very little chance of being near horses. During the summer months, as soon as school was out, the family drove in a rented car to St Simon's Island and most of the summer months she, her big Sister and Mother would spend the summer with Aunt Mardie, her Mother's sister. On the way they would go through a small town in South Carolina. This town, Aiken must have had a lot of horses because there was a stop light on the main road that stopped cars for Horses only. The little girl always wanted to be wide awake and looking as they approached this unusual Dtop Light. Of course she was hopeing to see a horse, but seldom did. She always said, "This is where I want to live when I grow up!" Many years later she did move to Aiken and her life with horses began. As soon as she graduated from high school, much to her parents disappointment she got a job at Aiken Prep. School, riding horses, giving riding lessons, (by then she had become a pretty good Horse Woman) cleaning out stalls, grooming and cleaning tack. The job was anything that related to horses. Her parents had wanted her to go to college, for a few years, but No Way. She had taken a few business courses at Asheville Biltmore College during high school, but she did this only to please her Mom and Daddy. Horses were all she could think about and surely God had answered the prayers of that little girl. There were always horses to ride, more than any one person could properly erercise. She met a young man working at the same school. He was an amazing horseman, trainer and rode in all the horse shows from South Carolina to New York. He never lost in horsemanship classes and always had his horses trained to jump well in the Hunter and Jumper Classes. He was very handsome and was always given the best horses to show. Of course how could she not fall in love with such a man. She'd always dreamed of sharing her life with someone just like him. They married and had two little girls and were very happy for many years. Unfortunately life doesn't always turn out like we dreamed it would. God had given her her hearts desire, but life was not so perfect as she had hoped.God has a purpose for each of us in this life and we don't always get what we think is perfect. People are not perfect and this young family began life at too young an age and neither of them knew how to live the life God has for each person. The young Mother finally realized that horses were not all that life was. That part of her life was fulfilled, but God's lessons can be very painful at times, especially when we are convinced we know what is best for us. God's ways are not our ways and this would be a hard lesson for all those involved in this life.

Another attack, this time on our innocent children

We must put GOD back in our schools and all of the places that HE once was. Our children need to see the Ten Commandments in their class rooms. How else will they know right from wrong

Stop Blaming President Bush

I am a senior citizen with four adult children, 9 grandchildren, and 8 step grandchilren. I am worried about what this country will be when they are adults . I see this President and many of his supporters still blaming George Bush for everything. What was President Bush to do after 911. Nothing? Had he done nothing this country would have been seen as weak. He went after the terrible Dictator in Iraq. Why? Because on 60 minutes a segment was on about all the biological WMDs he had and was storing. His own chemist, "Dr Death" (she was called ),told the world about the Anthrax, and many other Biological weapons he was making and storing . Every nation believed this terrorist Dictator had WMDs. He used them on his own people.He would not let the weapon inspectors in. Now to the Dummies who think he had no WMDs, I ask you, how hard would it have been to hide these weapons? He certainly had time, and Syria probably was involved in hiding them. Do any of you Bush haters not remember the poor little dog that he used one of these deadly poisons on? That too was televised over and over as we watched this innocent little dog die a terrible death. I am sure that also was on 60 minutes, or one of the other news programs. I saw it replayed over and over and it was sickening. "Dr.Death" was interviewed on 60 minutes. She told the world about all the chemical weapons Saddam had. This cruel dictator and his two sons starved many of their own people. The sons killed multiple people just for not winning competitions they were put in. These two cruel sons raped whomever they wanted and tortured, really tortured, not water boarding, many of the innocent people under Saddam. Saddam was a terrorist and the obvious one to go after following 911. The people of Iraq joyfully tore down the stature of this horrible Dictator. They were thrilled he was gone. It's a good thing we had a Commander in Chief that took immediate and brave action on the one Dictator everyone in all the world believed had WMDs and also was supporting other terrorists. No President ever went through so much during his Presidency. Our Country was attacked for the first time since Pearl Harbor. Then came Hurricane Katrina,President Bush was also blamed for this. It took a lot of money to set up Homeland Security,but that money was well spent and we have not been attacked in 8 years. You "Bush haters" should be ashamed. The "You Lie Episode" was nothing compared to the names Pres. Bush was called, the "Booing" he got when he spoke. You Liberals are doing your best to turn this country into a Socialist Nation. President Bush did what he had to do to keep this country safe and strong.I think you hated Pres. Bush's heart and what he stood for, from the first day he took office. You hated him for saying he 'prayed' for wisdom. Remember this, as this new President changes this country from the greatest country in the world to a country that is not respected and certainly not the Leader of the FREE world. I believe we Americans are beginning to wake up. We see this in the Town Hall Meetings. We are not "trouble makers bussed in" We are the people of this United States who care about this great Nation, and do not like the direction this Administration is taking.