Friday, January 30, 2009

A Realization…


The day after we returned from attending the Inauguration, I watched the live news coverage of President Obama addressing his Senior Staff. He clearly set forth policy for his staff setting the tone if you will of what his policy would be and what it would not be. My mind flashed back to the previous administration’s live news coverage, Press conferences, Announcements, Address to the nation and I couldn’t help noting what a striking difference there was from this live news coverage with this President speaking and what I had listen to and witnessed over the past eight years… this was so refreshing!

President Obama finished speaking and announced that Vice-President Biden would officiate over the rest of the ceremony for the Senior Staff. Then I witnessed President Obama come back to the microphone and state that he had not seen many of his staff since their confirmations and would like to say hello to everyone before he departed… needless to say I was impressed by this. I am certain that his agenda for the day was very full, and yet he deemed that it was just as important for him to greet each one of his Senior Staff personally.

The new President greeted each staffer, shaking their hand, chatting with them a bit, and an occasional hug or kiss and for some staffers being personally introduced to the Vice-President. The body language that was displayed before us was unmistakably genuine and the energy in that room was electrifying.

Tears began to run slowly down my cheeks and then I was crying to tissue category tears.
I realized in that instant, listening to and watching our new President…that the stolen potential of a young Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy, men who had inspired many of us to hope for a brighter day. Their lives instantly snuffed out right before our eyes and reduced to ashes, leaving all of us to ponder what might have been if they had lived. Is truly now being resurrected by a man… named Barack Obama.

Trish

*The election has ended, the Inauguration is over and there is new leadership in Washington, DC. President Obama is counting on all of us to do our part in helping to shape America… “For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies”. - President Barack Obama. Websites have been created and more sites will be up and running soon. Make it a priority to go to the websites so that you can stay informed and have a voice in your government. “Being Ignorant Is Evil Choosing Ignorance Is Wickedness”. - LJN. Now is not the time, to hit the cruise control or automatic pilot button because we have elected a man named Barack Hussein Obama to lead this country, it is going to take all of us to do what we can… “It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours”.- President Barack Obama.

http://www.whitehouse.gov/
http://www.astrongmiddleclass.gov/
*We will launch a sweeping effort to root out waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary spending in our government, and every American will be able to see how and where we spend taxpayer dollars by going to a new website called recovery.gov -- because I firmly believe what Justice Louis Brandeis once said, that sunlight is the best disinfectant, and I know that restoring transparency is not only the surest way to achieve results, but also to earn back the trust in government without which we cannot deliver the changes the American people sent us here to make. -President Barack Obama.









My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge… Hosea 4:6.

Photos by Trish & LJN @ Through the Viewfinder
http://www.tljnicholas.com/

Saturday, January 24, 2009

Priceless...







LJN and I finally made our decision to attend the 56th Inauguration on Monday evening January 19th. We departed our home in the PA suburbs just outside of Philadelphia and headed to a Metro rail park and ride subway station. Having, of course, no hotel accommodations we were fully prepared for the unexpected and yet at the same time we truly felt that we were doing the right thing and that we should go. LJN and I have always tried to live life in the now and not in tomorrow or someday if we can help it.




We boarded the Metro rail subway at 1:15am checked the stops along the map and made a decision as to which stop we would get off at, as it turned out the stop that we had chosen had an entrance into a beautiful hotel. We entered the hotel to use the restroom and ended up sitting in the lobby, where we dozed off to sleep for awhile. About an hour or so later we were aroused by the aroma of coffee and a delicious smell of something being cooked that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. I said to LJN “let’s follow the smell”!




Much to my delight we followed the smell to an early morning breakfast shop and filled our stomachs. As we were sitting there in the subway tunnel eating we began to see the people flooding off of the trains, young, old, men, women, couples, families with children and small babies. People gathering themselves in groups, all kinds of groups, school groups, foreign groups and tour groups… and most notably, tons and tons of young people. The two things that everyone had in common were being bundled up for the cold weather and getting to their destination very early. We all felt and wanted the same thing to be here at this time, to be apart of this historical moment, so much so, that we would brave the cold and the wind and stand for hours and hours to experience it.




I am blessed to have lived my life, especially now with LJN who has always believed in to know and experience life. And oh what an experience it was to attend the 56th Inauguration of America’s first Black President… it is a memory that I will always cherish. I am definitely glad that we did decide to go.




Trish























Photos By Trish & LJN @ Through the Viewfinder






We would love for you to share your thoughts and feelings about this historic Inauguration with us. Please send them to us and we will post them on the blog to share with our readers.

Sunday, January 18, 2009

National Day of Service


We elected a man who chose to serve the people of his country. Barack Obama, the President elect soon to be THE 44th President of the United States chose to really serve the people. He made this choice after graduating from Harvard Law School when he turned down a position to work in a prestigious law firm. He returned to Chicago to serve people who were desperately in need of help and more importantly leadership. And in doing so he became what is known as a “community organizer.”
Later he infused those same community organizational skills into his presidential campaign. He placed the necessary community/grassroots organizational tools directly into the hands and hearts of the people. This ignited a spark which started a fire in people all over the United States and abroad to get involved. For many of us we had become complacent, doubtful, disillusioned, and totally disbelieving in politics and our politicians. We were resuscitated back to life, old passions were renewed and new passions were discovered for the very first time.
National Day of Service should never be one special day or only promoted on Martin Luther King Day… it should be every day that God gives us breath! “We the people in order to form a more perfect union”… people we can do this together!
When President elect Barack Obama takes the oath of office on Tuesday, imagine that you are also standing there with your hand raised taking an oath to serve your fellow man, yes, be your brother's keeper, strive to make a difference wherever you can and never miss an opportunity to help someone.
Let’s keep the fire, which Barack Obama ignited, lit inside all of us and never ever let it go out!
Trish
Humanitarian Organizations Awareness Day!
Today I would like to encourage all of the internet community to place a link on your website or Blog to a local Community/Humanitarian Organization that is dedicated to helping those that are less fortunate than others and promotes change in the community and around the world. If you don’t have a website or Blog but know someone who does, please suggest adding a Humanitarian Organization link to their site.
*Please check out my Humanitarian Organizations links on the left side of the page… each link will take you directly to the websites homepage.


“There is no greater joy nor greater reward than to make a fundamental difference in someone’s life” – Sister Mary Rose McGeady, Children’s Advocate.

Barack Obama Photos by Trish @ Through the Viewfinder

PA Whistle Stop Tour 4.19.08

http://www.tljnicholas.com/

Katrina Photo *Photographer unknown. I took a picture of this picture through the glass of a store that had closed, when I was visiting New Orleans, LA last summer.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Back Again…


I am sitting here at my local hospital, a place that my illness brought me to in May of 2007 with the hope that the treatment would make me better again. It did, I felt like myself again! I was healed thanks to modern medicine… it only lasted a week. Thus my neurologist who admitted me proclaimed he wasn’t sure about my case, so he referred me to another neurologist who he thought would surly be able to diagnose my illness.
It is now 2009 and another brain MRI looms in front of me. I find myself sitting once again in this very familiar waiting room, the woman behind the registration desk recognizing my face the moment I step into her cubicle as the woman that has been here xxxxx many times for lab work. Yes, it’s me back again! And the registration process never seems to go as smoothly as both of us would like it to. So what is it this time? Your neurologist forgot to sign the script, we will try to get a hold of him so he can fax over another one, if not you will need to come back.
As I sat there waiting to find out whether or not I would be back again, I found myself starring out the window. The sky was wintry and gray it had a look of impending snow and the trees were all dark with branches that looked like sticks. As I kept starring at the sky and the trees I wished at that moment that I had my camera… instead I heard myself saying am I like a naked winter tree that has been stripped of everything?
After sharing what I had written with LJN I was reminded that the tree still has its trunk, its roots are deeply rooted in the ground and the branches don’t have their leaves right now, but in their season they will come back. I still have a degree of mobility, my faith is deeply rooted in God and all of my leaves will come backLord willing!
Trish







John 15:5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Psalms 1:3 and he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
Photos by Trish @ Through the Viewfinder

Sunday, January 4, 2009

Thank You 2008... Hello 2009!




Many people were very glad to be able to say good-by to 2008. For me it was Thank you! I am truly thankful to have lived through the entire year with all of its joys, heartaches, disappointments, happiness, sorrows, losses, gains, and many unexpected blessings along the way. I will always cherish the memories that only 2008 could give me. I am excited knowing that new memories are on the horizon in 2009. You see there is no such thing as a good year or a bad year… there is living life and no matter what you do or where you live or how much money you make or don’t make you are not insulated from experiencing many of the same things that took place the year before. Those experiences may be a lot less and not as intense this year then they were last year. And for some people that alone will cause them to conclude at the end of 2009 whether or not it was a “good” year or a “bad” year.

In life there will always be a time when you will experience joy, heartache, disappointment, happiness, sorrow, loss, gains and many unexpected blessings along the way. It is good to set goals, so go ahead and set some! And what ever you do don’t make any New Year resolutions…let’s be realistic and just live life!
Trish
“To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:” (Ecclesiastes 3:1, 3-8)
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
A time to heal, a time to break down, and a time to build up;
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.













Photos by Trish @ Through the Viewfinder


http://www.tljnicholas.com/


HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!