Channeling Presidents - Happy Birthday Abraham Lincoln!

I crawled out of my warm bed, almost asleep, to write this post tonight. I felt compelled to post this before the clock struck 12:00 am. It would be Lincoln's birthday no longer and I would have to wait until next year. Well anyway, today is Lincoln's bicentennial Birthday. The BIG 2 - 0 - 0 .

I am aware of this because Aunt Carmen sent a gift in the mail this week. The things she sends our family quenches our thirst for knowledge and history. Making us curious for more. Here's what I learned thanks to Carmen.

• From a young age Lincoln was the writer of truth (I long to write of truth)
• He was raised by his loving step mother after is mother died (we all mother/nurture each other)
• The stories told and read gave him his own voice for what was in his heart (listening and reading are essential)
• He lost elections - He became President - He endured through a nation at war - He helped to free slaves (try try try again)
• Lincoln wrote of the Emancipation Proclamation - "I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do signing this paper. My whole soul is in it." (the power of knowing your purpose is the most powerful thing)

Grandpa Lester left a legacy of seeking knowledge. From what I understand he read all the time. Aunt Carmen is passing this down to his grandchildren. Lincoln was my husband's father's great historic hero. This is what Carmen writes,

"Abraham Lincoln was Grandpa Lester's great historic hero. He read everything he could get his hands on about Lincoln. Every time we came home to Iowa when we were living in Tennessee we would stop in Illinois to call at his house in Springfield like he was an old friend or a distant relative; walk through nearby New Salem where he lived as a young man like we were going to buy the place, and visit his tomb with great somberness like he had died just last week. Dad's great regard for Lincoln made him come alive, made a statement about what makes a leader great, made history real and important. Happy Lincoln Bicentennial! "

As I've read about Obama, Lincoln and Jackson recently, I find myself in total awe as I now know my children's grandfather found. Lincoln was about truth and honesty.

It gives me hope that there is greatness in us all, including myself. Look what could happen if you use it! WOW!