First of all, 'Merry Christmas', 2019!
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      Secondly, I want to thank family and friends who have been a great source of encouragement and love, during tough times I've shared.  It's been a challenging few years for me, and loved ones.  Your kind words, love, grace (giving and accepting), and prayers are elements of stitching us together, as humans.  I don't dare attempt a list, surely I would forget someone.
      As many of you know, I am 'dark' on Facebook ... and have been since early-September.  It's a mixed-up year and holiday season for this gal, this year.  Although the entire family is affected, I can only speak for myself.  You know who you are ... heart-to-heart hugs ... love ... peace.
      The last quarter of the year has had such an impact, it's the main focus of my entire year.  It all started on Labor Day weekend.  My birthday is August 29th, a few days before the holiday weekend.  My daughter and I laugh because she seldom 'remembers' the 'exact' date ... so she adopted the habit of calling me (early or late, depending on what date she remembers) early in her day.
      This year, a couple days passed; it struck me odd that I hadn't heard from her, this year. Something felt not quite right, but I tried to chalk it up to other family drama she was dealing with at the same time.  Mid-morning on Saturday, the phone rang (yes, I have a landline).  My caller i.d. reflected a phone call from a 'county' number (other than the one I live in), and it was a Saturday.
      Generally speaking, most government-related offices are not open on Saturday. The voice was unclear, somewhat confusing to me.  The voice spoke again; it was my daughter! When someone is incarcerated, there is always a 'gap' between getting the call and connecting to the inmate. For those who listen to their intuition, I knew 'something' was definitely 'amiss'.
      She, shakily, uttered to me, "Mom, I need a lawyer; I shot him (in the knee)!"  Unlike most mothers, I was sad, but not surprised. My daughter has been enduring emotional and occasional physical abuse, for nearly their entire decade of marriage.  She felt, this time, she may not survive; she was in fear of her life. She was defending not only herself, but her children.
    I've seen her take his abuse ... over and over, though the years. I knew, but she would always have an 'excuse', always defended him because she wanted to be a 'subservient wife' and keep her family together, continuing to withstand his abuse. Of course, as in any victim of abuse, they defend their abuser either out of fear or distorted 'love'.
      I spent the entire Labor Day weekend trying to find a lawyer who would respond on a 'holiday weekend'.  The only man of integrity and empathy to return my call was very well known in this valley; perhaps he returned my call because he's semi-retired. No matter, thank God for this man, this particular weekend.  My main focus was Kama; on Sunday I did go to the church where I knew my grandchildren were with the pastor, and his family.
      The beginning of this journey began on such a good note, considering ... however, since the domestic abuse situation, her attorney has passed on, so everything about the cases are behind. She had to retain a new lawyer.
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... life goes on ... and, thankfully, with my daughter still alive. ~nrl
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      Rather than write about what I just read, I am going to share a recent communication for me, to one of my posts.  I will expound on it, later.

​Hi there , 
I was reading your page here pearlynuggets.weebly.com/blog/short-tough-tongue-twisters-a-z, and I saw you were mentioning englishclub.com.
I have to be honest, I'm not a native English speaker, but this site helped me a lot with learning English - so I'm happy other people are recommending it! :) 
As for a recommendation, I wanted to share mine with you as a way of thanking you for sharing englishclub.com. 
I recently found online a funny article about the English language (which made a lot of sense to me, as a non-native), and I'm pretty sure it will speak to your users as well.
Here it is: https://www.websiteplanet.com/blog/talking-aloud-talking-allowed-watch-write-make-sure-right/ 
It's about homophones and all these English words that can sometimes lead to mistakes when the context is unclear :) 
I think it would be a nice addition to your page, would you decide to share it there with your users. 
I hope this is relevant 
Best, 
Alejandra
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      A few days ago, while at the local Goodwill, I glanced through the book section.  I enjoy 'smaller' hard back books, of quotes.  As I flipped through the pages of one book, it seemed to be full with short, and to the point, pieces of 'wisdom'.  There are just a few words to a few lines of comments, not necessarily famous quotes.
      Today, I looked closer at this book and was actually a bit amused, and a bit offended, to be honest.  I will post the photos, then finish my comments.
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      This book is very similar to an '8 Ball', the one you ask a question, then turn it over and it gives you an answer.  Now, I fully understand the catchy title for this little book, 

What a fun evening with OK Sisters, fans, and friends.
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♥ VIDEOS - in no particular order.  Enjoy! ~nrl

​1973 National Archives Fire
      This photo was found on Wikipedia.  The tag line about this photo, according to Wikipedia, came from Wikimedia Commons.  "The 1973 National Archives Fire, a severe blow to the National Archives and Records Administration of the United States, was a disastrous fire that occurred at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis, Missouri, on July 12, 1973."
The Wikimedia Commons is a freely license media fire repository. You can help.  http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Welcome
      Approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) were lost. They included eighty percent of Branch Personnel and Army Personnel discharged between Nov. 1, 1912 and Jan. 1, 1960; and seventy-five percent of Air Force Personnel discharged between Sept. 25, 1947 and Jan. 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.). No duplicate or microfilm copies of these records were ever maintained, or produced. No indexes had been created prior to the fire. Millions of documents were on loan to the Department of Veterans Affairs before the fire so a complete listing of the records lost is also unavailable. However, during the ensuing years, the NPRC has collected numerous Auxiliary Records which were used to reconstruct basic military information.  If you'd like to read more about this fire here is the link where I got the basic information:
http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/fire-1973.html  

      There's a reason for this article, as you will see by reading the following story, about my father, his service to our country, and my experiences thus far in my attempts to obtain and find his military records. He is gone now, so I can't ask him ... as you might imagine, I was disappointed and disheartened when I received the news that his records were lost, along with 16-18 million others.  My heart goes out to anyone else who has had the same response from the Records Administration in St. Louis. 

Here is ... the rest of the story!
      Since my father's military records were lost in the 1973 National Arhive fire in St. Louis, I decided to search elsewhere to see if I could find at least "some" of his experiences in the Army.
      In my search, I found a document with my father's name on it.  A close friend, whose spouse was in the military, has an awesome military website.   http://www.vetshome.com/  So ... knowing how saavy he is about all things military, I asked some questions this morning (through an online chat with his wife).  I am not a connoisseur of military terms.  He was able to enlighten me about this document as well as more about what it meant, and how it affected my father.  Wow ...  is all I can say, besides thanking him over and over for his knowledge and information.  This is one of those "nuggets" I refer to on my homepage, that is turning into my own personal "pearl" ... yay! I'm hoping I can find more ... perhaps photos, articles, or more military documents with his name.
      The document I found was a Field Order from Merseburg, Germany.  It was dated "Wednesday, 13 September 1944".  It is a Debriefing Report of the 325th Squadron.  Since Bob knows and understands military lingo and such, he shared this:
      My father was in the "Army Air Force".  During that time, we didn’t actually have Air Force like today; during WWII it was referred to as the "Army Air Force".  Bob could tell by his squadron that he was a "gunner" on an airplane.  WG = wing gunner - TG = tail gunner … also that he was on a "bomber" … they are all debriefed after a bombing run.  They had to do that each time, after they went out.  He could also tell how high up they were - 29,000 ft up.  Not exactly front line, but flew over Germany, probably Saalberg.  My father ran a machine gun on the plane, shooting at the plane that had attacked them.  A wing or tail gunner is what they were called.  He was under the belly or on top of plane, depending on what type of plane (in the middle, where the wing is).  They had 3 holes in the plane when they got back (schrapnel), from being shot at... The WG beside Dad's name designated he was a "Wing Gunner".
      Below this article, I have another document, a newspaper article.  It is an article I found in his personal belongings (which were few as he was a very private man, most things were burned before he passed.  I think he knew it was his time to go).  The article is self-explanatory.  He knew the military personnel looked forward to their correspondence from home; he was a mail carrier prior to his military career.
      If there is anyone who has information, articles, documents, or stories they want to share about their loved ones, I would be more than happy to post them here.  And, who knows, perhaps I can connect with people who knew him, or have relatives who may have known him during his tenure in the U.S. Army Air Force!!

Dad knew how important correspondence from was to the soldiers. He made sure, no matter the weather, that the troops got their mail!
Well, my father was an "Iowan" who went to war, but KETV was asking for memories and stories about loved ones in the military. My story, and letter got accepted, was featured, and I received this coin medal, in honor of his military service to our country!

      4th of July this year was spent with Mom Lenz, Grandpa Ike, my daughter, spouse and grand kiddos. It was a full day. I went out about noonish and stayed the night because of threatening weather in the area (near the end of the fireworks).
      Kudos to the pyro captain for the day, Benjamin ... great job! Thanks for sharing your 'sparkling' personality! *smile*
      This compilation 'should' include a few videos. I am going to post before I add comments, but I want to point something out, which I plan to do later.
      There is one video I have a comment about. At one point, when a slight wind came up and nearly blew out Justice's 'sparkler' (long one, standing in the ground), I heard Benj tell him to 'blow on it'. My instinct was 'uh, no, but it was too late'. It works, of course, but his face got too close, the wind blew a spark back into his face (near his eye). He is fine. My point here is, "No, don't blow on any sparkler or other type to 'keep it going'." As an adult, we know not to 'get too close'; he did not.
      When I got there, Benjamin and Autumn were gone, shopping. When they got home, their shopping trip included purchasing some Ninja stuff that was put up for the kids. It's a play time exercise set up that can be expanded to include a variety of physical activities. Benj also brought some flowers for Kama. It is cool.
      Mom Iona came out and enjoyed the fireworks display, too! We had some good laughs, the weather held out and even the bugs were not too overwhelming either. Thanks for the fun day, family! I love you all.
      These photos and videos encapsulate a 4th of July visit with family. Enjoy. ♥ 2 ♥ ~nrl