Happy thanksgiving!!~~!!

Definition of Thanksgiving :
1 : the act of giving thanks
2 : a prayer expressing gratitude
3 : a public acknowledgment or celebration of divine goodness.

Thanksgiving Day is a joyous family festival celebrated with lot of enthusiasm in US, Canada and several other countries. Thanksgiving Day Festival commemorates the feast held by the Pilgrim colonists and members of the Wampanoag people at Plymouth in 1621. On this day people express gratitude to God for his blessings and give thanks to dear ones for their love & support.


Thanksgiving is America's preeminent day. It is celebrated every year on the fourth Thursday in the month of November. It has a very interesting history. Its origin can be traced back to the 16th century when the first thanksgiving dinner is said to have taken place.

Journey of Pilgrims
The legendary pilgrims, crossed the Atlantic in the year 1620 in Mayflower-A 17th Century sailing vessel. About 102 people traveled for nearly two months with extreme difficulty. This was so because they were kept in the cargo space of the sailing vessel. No one was allowed to go on the deck due to terrible storms. The pilgrims comforted themselves by singing Psalms- a sacred song.

Arrival in Plymouth
The pilgrims reached Plymouth rock on December 11th 1620, after a sea journey of 66 days. Though the original destination was somewhere in the northern part of Virginia, they could not reach the place owing to winds blowing them off course. Nearly46 pilgrims died due to extreme cold in winter. However, in the spring of 1621, Squanto, a native Indian taught the pilgrims to survive by growing food.

Day of Fasting and Prayer
In the summer of 1621, owing to severe drought, pilgrims called for a day of fasting and prayer to please God and ask for a bountiful harvest in the coming season. God answered their prayers and it rained at the end of the day. It saved the corn crops.

First Thanksgiving Feast
It is said that Pilgrims learnt to grow corn, beans and pumpkins from the Indians, which helped all of them survive . In the autumn of 1621, they held a grand celebration where 90 people were invited including Indians. The grand feast was organized to thank god for his favors. This communal dinner is popularly known as “The first thanksgiving feast”. There is however, no evidence to prove if the dinner actually took place.

While some historians believe pilgrims were quite religious so, their thanksgiving would've included a day of fasting and praying, others say that the Thanksgiving dinner did take place.

Turkey and First Thanksgiving Feast
There is no evidence to prove if the customary turkey was a part of the initial feast. According to the first hand account written by the leader of the colony, the food included, ducks, geese, venison, fish, berries etc.

Pumpkin and Thanksgiving Feast
Pumpkin pie, a modern staple adorning every dinner table, is unlikely to have been a part of the first thanksgiving feast. Pilgrims however, did have boiled pumpkin. Diminishing supply of flour led to the absence of any kind of bread.

The feast continued for three days and was eaten outside due to lack of space. It was not repeated till 1623, which again witnessed a severe drought. Governor Bradford proclaimed another day of thanksgiving in the year 1676. October of 1777 witnessed a time when all the 13 colonies joined in a communal celebration. It also marked the victory over the British.

After a number of events and changes, President Lincoln proclaimed last Thursday in November of thanksgiving in the year 1863. This was due to the continuous efforts of Sarah Josepha Hale, a magazine editor. She wrote a number of articles for the cause.

~ I love thanksgiving because it gives me a chance to give thanks.

~Talk to someone who needs a chat.

~Give someone a hug.

~Tell someone you love them.

~Thank elders, friends, teachers, anybody! Thank them for being alive!

~Thank God!

~ Smile.

~ Giggle.

~ Just love!

~ And tell people to pass it on.

Panders here to say her last til after the holidays. Be safe! Live Laugh Love! And enjoy being with your family, friends, loved ones, who ever! Just be good and dont get into trouble. Dont drink (its worthless anyway) Dont do drugs! Have a happy holiday. You are loved by ME!!

Love you all ~~ Panders

Letter to you... From my heart.

When I lose a person I lay in bed and cry my soul out.

I cry because I wasn't ready to lose you.

I cry because my big heart misses you too.

I dont want to lose my family... my friends.

I love you all to much to say goodbye.

Every tear I pour is a tear for you.

My heart falls apart everytime someone says goodbye.

Please if you read this... Know that my heart is in the game.

Please if you read this, know that you are loved by me... Where ever you might be...

Watching over me...
Watching me...
Thinking about me...

I guess sometimes you have to lie to find the truth

There is nothing more I see,

Than how she smiles and looks at me

It makes me feel unsteady

But she comes over to me

and I feel ready, to speak

Her thoughful stare,

her beautiful hair

her eyes, her ears, her pretty face,

I notice nothing else in this place.

except....

The Beauty Inside,

that is where her brave, crystal tears are cried

I see into her when I look into her eyes, and am lost,

in the sea of thought

She always makes me feel better, when i am down

because she knows I will always be there, always in town

I'll be there in hurry, if shes hurt, in pain

because I know that she would always do the same

When I see her there is nothing else

Because I will always know that under that beautiful butterfly,

There will always be the Beauty Inside


The Beauty Inside
by Cody J. Czerniak



There is some amazing writers out there...

Work in progress

Why do you drink and grumble grumble grumble...

Why do you drink and hit, slap, and fumble...

Why do you drink and fall into a deep, deep slumber...

Why must you drink and cause this horror...

I thought we were friends...
I thought I could trust you...

How do I know its the real you talking?

Do you think your cool?

Thats just sad...
Thats just dumb...
Thats just...

Do you want to die?
Do you have a death wish?
Do you believe in a bigger purpose?

You choose... Live or die... Just dont get drunk and then talk to me. Dont get drunk and tell me lies... Just stop drinking period. Why the hell do you need it?! Give me a good answer and I will leave you be, but if you cant... Then just leave me the hell alone.

Feels like today.

~ I woke up this morning with this song stuck in my head. I thought I would share it with you :-) Its by Rascal Flatts~!



I woke up this morning
With this feeling inside me that I can't explain
Like a weight that I've carried
Been carried away, away
But I know something is coming
I don't know what it is
But I know it's amazing, you save me
My time is coming
And I'll find my way out of this longest drought

[Chorus:]
It feels like today
I know it feels like today I'm sure
It's the one thing that's missin'
The one thing I'm wishin'
The last sacred blessin'
It feels like today
Feels like today

You treat life like a picture
But its not a moment frozen in time
It's not gonna wait
Til you make up your mind, at all

So while this storm is breaking
While there's light at the end of the tunnel
Keep running towards it
Releasing the pressure, that's my heartache
Soon this dam will break

[Chorus x2]

Feels like, feels like your life changes
Feels like feels like your life changes

It's the one thing that's missin'
The one thing you're wishin'
The last sacred blessin'
Feels like today

Feels like
Feels like your life changes
Feels like
Feels like your life changes

To write love on her arms.

In support of To Write Love on Her Arms, you should write "love" on your arm on November 13th, 2009, National To Write Love on Her Arms Day. This is not an event that you ATTEND, you just simply write "love" on your arm in support.

To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.


Quick Numbers:

-121 million people worldwide suffer from depression.

-18 million of these cases are happening in the United States.

-Between 20% and 50% of children and teens struggling with depression have a family history of this struggle and the offspring of depressed parents are more than three times as likely to suffer from depression.

-Depression often co-occurs with anxiety disorders and substance abuse, with 30 percent of teens with depression also developing a substance abuse problem.

-2/3 of those suffering from depression never seek treatment.

-Untreated depression is the number one cause of suicide, and suicide is the third leading cause of death among teenagers.





Here's where it all began:

Pedro the Lion is loud in the speakers, and the city waits just outside our open windows. She sits and sings, legs crossed in the passenger seat, her pretty voice hiding in the volume. Music is a safe place and Pedro is her favorite. It hits me that she won't see this skyline for several weeks, and we will be without her. I lean forward, knowing this will be written, and I ask what she'd say if her story had an audience. She smiles. "Tell them to look up. Tell them to remember the stars."

I would rather write her a song, because songs don't wait to resolve, and because songs mean so much to her. Stories wait for endings, but songs are brave things bold enough to sing when all they know is darkness. These words, like most words, will be written next to midnight, between hurricane and harbor, as both claim to save her.

Renee is 19. When I meet her, cocaine is fresh in her system. She hasn't slept in 36 hours and she won't for another 24. It is a familiar blur of coke, pot, pills and alcohol. She has agreed to meet us, to listen and to let us pray. We ask Renee to come with us, to leave this broken night. She says she'll go to rehab tomorrow, but she isn't ready now. It is too great a change. We pray and say goodbye and it is hard to leave without her.

She has known such great pain; haunted dreams as a child, the near-constant presence of evil ever since. She has felt the touch of awful naked men, battled depression and addiction, and attempted suicide. Her arms remember razor blades, fifty scars that speak of self-inflicted wounds. Six hours after I meet her, she is feeling trapped, two groups of "friends" offering opposite ideas. Everyone is asleep. The sun is rising. She drinks long from a bottle of liquor, takes a razor blade from the table and locks herself in the bathroom. She cuts herself, using the blade to write "FUCK UP" large across her left forearm.

The nurse at the treatment center finds the wound several hours later. The center has no detox, names her too great a risk, and does not accept her. For the next five days, she is ours to love. We become her hospital and the possibility of healing fills our living room with life. It is unspoken and there are only a few of us, but we will be her church, the body of Christ coming alive to meet her needs, to write love on her arms.

She is full of contrast, more alive and closer to death than anyone I've known, like a Johnny Cash song or some theatre star. She owns attitude and humor beyond her 19 years, and when she tells me her story, she is humble and quiet and kind, shaped by the pain of a hundred lifetimes. I sit privileged but breaking as she shares. Her life has been so dark yet there is some soft hope in her words, and on consecutive evenings, I watch the prettiest girls in the room tell her that she's beautiful. I think it's God reminding her.

I've never walked this road, but I decide that if we're going to run a five-day rehab, it is going to be the coolest in the country. It is going to be rock and roll. We start with the basics; lots of fun, too much Starbucks and way too many cigarettes.

Are you in trouble?

Dating violence is not something that should be pushed into a corner and waited on. It needs to be handled now!...

Dating Abuse Red Flags~

For people who may be in abusive relationship.

• Feeling afraid of your Girlfriend or Boyfriend.
• Feeling isolated, maybe even alone.
• Losing your friends.
• Changing your behavior because of your girlfriends or boyfriends jealousy.
• Feeling embarassed, put down, ashamed, or guilty.
• Being threatened.
• Feeling manipulated or controlled.
• Being afraid to express your feelings of anger.
• Feeling a nervous or sick feeling in your stomach when your dating partner is irritated, angry or frustrated.
• Feeling a pounding or fluttering in your chest when your dating partner isnt happy.
• Not allowed to, or being afraid to, make decisions for yourself.
• Not having your thoughts or wishes for personal space repected.
• Feeling as if your date gets too personal or touches you in an unwanted way.

For people who may be abusing their dating partner.

• Intimidation.
• Becoming angry if your dating partner is spending time with other people.
• Using guilt trips to get your dating partner to do something.
• Feeling unable to control your anger.
• Making your dating partner afraid of you!
• Force.

This is a big problem.

Help to stop it~

If this is happening to you, you need to contact someone immediatly. People are here to help you!

• Family.
• Friends.
• Teachers.
• Your Principal!
• Neighbors.
• Police Officers.
• Churches.

http://delta.aplaceforwomen.org <>

~Counting on you to make a difference in this world. I know you can.

"Hearts Of The Innocent" - Kutless.

I'm looking down into the eyes of hopelessness
They're crying out to me
I see the pain it's so much more than youth should know
It tears me apart
What can I do to change what I see
This vicious cycle must come to an end

[CHORUS:]
Can't you see, we're crushing the hearts of the innocent
We're teaching them to fail
And how it breaks me to see how we're living and punishing the ones that need us to care
To see them hurting
Feels like knuckles to the back of my head

Where have the days gone that a promise was forever
Families stuck together

We wonder why their generation struggles to get by
There's no one to help what can I do to change what I see
This vicious cycle must come to an end



~ It hurts to see my generation struggle. It hurts to see that we are SO DAMN LAZY! WE! Including me need to change... This vicious cycle need to end.