.President Lincoln's Thanksgiving Proclamation.

The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.

In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.

Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.

No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.


It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, 

and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.

.Grandmother's Pearls.

They came all the way from Spain. The clasp is a larger pearl, on top of a golden piece of metal that clicks happily when you fasten it. There's a necklace and a small bracelet that leaves just the right amount of wiggle room when you click it onto your wrist. These are my grandmother's pearls.

Yesterday morning I stretched my elastic string of faux pearls out and slipped them over my head. I stepped back to survey the fashion of the morning - a red antique sweater topped off a high-wasted black pencil skirt and heels. The cashmere, appliqued red sweater has seen so much... it was a little-worn purchase of my great-grandmother. I've worn it into the world of politics now, and it has more stories to tell. A sigh escaped my lips. One more day of budget debate ahead.

Mom popped her head in, surveyed my outfit, and mentioned something about it being time to "pass on the pearls." She returned, smiling, with a red jewelry box, stamped with an elegant seal. It sprung open to reveal a string of pearls... and a bracelet to match. Their elegance and shine betrayed that elastic string around my neck as a ridiculous, $5.00 fake. I was delighted to surrender them for the real thing.

Grandma and Grandpa are in a nursing home now. Some days are wonderful, and some are filled with confusion, dimentia, and frustration. Her brothers came to visit last week, for one last time. I wear the pearls around my neck because she can't enjoy them anymore. That string of shine makes me feel like such a princess; a real daughter of a real God who delivered my family from the Armenian Genocide.

Those pearls from Spain are so much more than an accessory to me... they're a remembrance of the work of the LORD in the life of Miriam Kassarjian Badeer so far... and all His kind intentions for the future.

Hello world of blogger!

I'm new here! After a few weeks of fiddling around with layouts, banners, and other such aesthetic matters, I'm ready to begin the work of writing. The stage is set, and now it's time to do something.

My old venue, xanga, is almost officially defunked. It's time to enter the world of blogger, banner ads, html, and other unknown regions of technology. The writing part should be a piece of cake.

Stay tuned... and in the meantime, check out the other fantastic blogs I've found. They're just a little to the left. I won't be gone long...