40 Days

So I am participating in a "Purpose Driven Life" study group. You know the book?
Today (well actually yesterday) is Day 1.
My Point to Ponder is: It is not about you (it is about God).
My Verse: Everything was created in Him, and everything finds its purpose in Him.
Question to Ask Myself: How do you remind yourself, despite all of the advertising, that life is about God and not about you?
My thoughts on that are that you attend church, you read the Bible, and you pray. I always try to make at least part of my prayers about praising God and thanking him for my blessings, not just complaining and asking for things.

Quick Update

Hi everybody! Sorry we've been kind of MIA, it's been a busy summer! We survived the cruise to Alaska, got to spend some great time with all of the family! Alexis has started second grade and seems to really like her teacher and her class. She will be participating in Garden Club this year which is really quite a big deal. We have orientation and first day next week.

Marilyn is still full of spit and vinegar. She is such a little comedian! Her favorite thing is to run around the house and yell "shake your booty butt!" and dance. Last night she hollered at Josh's best friend Nathan for about 15 minutes that his name was really Naked. I don't think he found it as funny as she did, but he was good natured about it:)

I'm busy with work as usual. I have a trial coming up next week and one in October that will hopefully settle. I am trying REALLY hard to get my home office organized, boy would that be a blessing! For those of you who know me well, you can probably guess that it has been close to 8 years since it has been really organized. I CANNOT WAIT! After the office will be the girls' room, YIKES! I have also been continuing to workout. I have a great workout partner at work and we've been taking full advantage of the nice weather. Most days we jog and walk along the Loop Trail by the river. I am starting my own personal fitness challenge in October which I will post more about once it gets closer.

Alexis is also playing in her fourth season of soccer. She has had one game and is being quite the good sport. Several of her teammates and the other players are super aggressive so she is learning a lot, hopefully.

Josh has been really busy at work. You can imagine the chaos from all of the panic in the banking industry. He continues to do great work for his clients, of course. He also just got done performing in a brand new musical shipped in from New York to the exclusive Sleeping Lady resort in Leavenworth. He was one of three in the pit orchestra and seemed to enjoy it a lot. I think it gave him great encouragement to do some more composing. He also got to work with several prestigious musicians and actors and actresses including a composer that has written in numerous soundtracks and actresses and actors who have been on Broadway and in shows such as CSI and Law and Order. His best friend from high school, Nate, just moved home as well so they have been having a fun time hanging out together again.

What does the Fall hold for the Cozarts? Hopefully we will get to see friends and family. My dad is recovering from his second hand surgery so I'm hoping we'll get to see him a bit while he is off work. Alexis will be playing soccer and after soccer, I'd like to get the girls either back into swimming lessons or in gymnastics. I am looking forward to organizing and decorating the apartment (yes, Arianna decorate) and I have a ton of scrapbooking to catch up on. Josh is interested in teaching private lessons again, we'll see what kind of stamina he's got with work as busy as it is.

Will post more soon with lots of pictures to come!

Two Tech Tips for You

Ok, this may be the best things you learn all year, so pay attention:

1) www.pandora.com, this is a free website that creates an online radio station for you based on a song, artist, or genre that you enter. It is awesome, I love it.

2) to create very cool characters anywhere (email, word processing document, etc.), hold down ALT button plus any combination of numbers on the number pad. For example: •◘○ô♣♠↓$♀♪‼¶§↑↓→←∟↔.

YOU ARE WELCOME!

Out of all the Darkness in this World, the Light Continues to Shine Through...

There were two stories I read today about people that made me so happy to be a part of this world. They are both about men who are pillars of strength and heroes, each in their own way.

The first story is about a brother of a friend of a friend. I have never met the friend and I have never met the brother. But the courageous story of the battle he fought, that would eventually end his life, is one that is all too common with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thank God for our soldiers.

The second story is about a local Wenatchee man, who I do not know. But his fight is a brave one and being only one year younger than he is, I cannot imagine the courage and strength he possesses.

Present Arms
Archived Posts from this Category
Sat 19 Jul 2008 09:27
Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpostPosted by: T2MCategories: All Posts , Present Arms No Comment
By Steve Mraz, Stars and StripesMideast edition
Ben Bloker / Stripes Spc. Tyler Stafford, 23, a soldier from Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), recounts the hours-long fight that killed nine of his comrades as he recuperates at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany.
Everything was on fire. The trucks. The bazaar. The grass.
It looked surreal. It looked like a movie.
That was what Spc. Tyler Stafford remembered thinking as he stepped onto the medical evacuation helicopter. The 23-year-old soldier would have been loaded onto the bird, but the poncho that was hastily employed as his stretcher broke. His body speckled with grenade and RPG shrapnel, the Vicenza, Italy, infantryman walked the last few feet to the waiting Black Hawk.
That was Sunday morning in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province. At a forward operating base — maybe as big as a football field — established just a few days prior.
Outnumbered but not outgunned, a platoon-plus element of soldiers with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team accompanied by Afghan soldiers engaged in a fistfight of a firefight.
After maybe two hours of intense combat, some of the soldiers’ guns seized up because they expelled so many rounds so quickly. Insurgent bullets and dozens of rocket-propelled grenades filled the air. So many RPGs were fired at the soldiers that they wondered how the insurgents had so many.
That was July 13. That was when Stafford was blown out of a fighting position by an RPG, survived a grenade blast and had the tail of an RPG strike his helmet.
That was the day nine Chosen Company soldiers died.
It was just days before the unit was scheduled to leave the base.
———
The first RPG and machine gun fire came at dawn, strategically striking the forward operating base’s mortar pit. The insurgents next sighted their RPGs on the tow truck inside the combat outpost, taking it out. That was around 4:30 a.m.
This was not a haphazard attack. The reportedly 200 insurgents fought from several positions. They aimed to overrun the new base. The U.S. soldiers knew it and fought like hell. They knew their lives were on the line.
"I just hope these guys’ wives and their children understand how courageous their husbands and dads were," said Sgt. Jacob Walker. "They fought like warriors."
The next target was the FOB’s observation post, where nine soldiers were positioned on a tiny hill about 50 to 75 meters from the base. Of those nine, five died, and at least three others — Stafford among them — were wounded.
When the attack began, Stafford grabbed his M-240 machine gun off a north-facing sandbag wall and moved it to an east-facing sandbag wall. Moments later, RPGs struck the north-facing wall, knocking Stafford out of the fighting position and wounding another soldier.
Stafford thought he was on fire so he rolled around, regaining his senses. Nearby, Cpl. Gunnar Zwilling, who later died in the fight, had a stunned look on his face.
Immediately, a grenade exploded by Stafford, blowing him down to a lower terrace at the observation post and knocking his helmet off. Stafford put his helmet back on and noticed how badly he was bleeding.
Cpl. Matthew Phillips was close by, so Stafford called to him for help. Phillips was preparing to throw a grenade and shot a look at Stafford that said, "Give me a second. I gotta go kill these guys first."
This was only about 30 to 60 seconds into the attack.
Kneeling behind a sandbag wall, Phillips pulled the grenade pin, but just after he threw it an RPG exploded at his position. The tail of the RPG smacked Stafford’s helmet. The dust cleared. Phillips was slumped over, his chest on his knees and his hands by his side. Stafford called out to his buddy three or four times, but Phillips never answered or moved.
"When I saw Phillips die, I looked down and was bleeding pretty good, that’s probably the most scared I was at any point," Stafford said. "Then I kinda had to calm myself down and be like, ‘All right, I gotta go try to do my job.’ "
The soldier from Parker, Colo., loaded his 9 mm handgun, crawled up to their fighting position, stuck the pistol over the sandbags and fired.
Stafford saw Zwilling’s M-4 rifle nearby so he loaded it, put it on top of the sandbag and fired. Another couple RPGs struck the sandbag wall Stafford used as cover. Shrapnel pierced his hands.
Stafford low-crawled to another fighting position where Cpl. Jason Bogar, Sgt. Matthew Gobble and Sgt. Ryan Pitts were located. Stafford told Pitts that the insurgents were within grenade-tossing range. That got Pitts’ attention.
With blood running down his face, Pitts threw a grenade and then crawled to the position from where Stafford had just come. Pitts started hucking more grenades.
The firefight intensified. Bullets cut down tree limbs that fell on the soldiers. RPGs constantly exploded.
Back at Stafford’s position, so many bullets were coming in that the soldiers could not poke their heads over their sandbag wall. Bogar stuck an M-249 machine gun above the wall and squeezed off rounds to keep fire on the insurgents. In about five minutes, Bogar fired about 600 rounds, causing the M-249 to seize up from heat.
At another spot on the observation post, Cpl. Jonathan Ayers laid down continuous fire from an M-240 machine gun, despite drawing small-arms and RPG fire from the enemy. Ayers kept firing until he was shot and killed. Cpl. Pruitt Rainey radioed the FOB with a casualty report, calling for help. Of the nine soldiers at the observation post, Ayers and Phillips were dead, Zwilling was unaccounted for, and three were wounded. Additionally, several of the soldiers’ machine guns couldn’t fire because of damage. And they needed more ammo.
Rainey, Bogar and another soldier jumped out of their fighting position with the third soldier of the group launching a shoulder-fired missile.
All this happened within the first 20 minutes of the fight.
Platoon leader 1st Lt. Jonathan Brostrom and Cpl. Jason Hovater arrived at the observation post to reinforce the soldiers. By that time, the insurgents had breached the perimeter of the observation post. Gunfire rang out, and Rainey shouted, "He’s right behind the sandbag."
Brostrom could be heard shouting about the insurgent as well.
More gunfire and grenade explosions ensued. Back in the fighting position, Gobble fired a few quick rounds. Gobble then looked to where the soldiers were fighting and told Stafford the soldiers were dead. Of the nine soldiers who died in the battle, at least seven fell in fighting at the observation post.
The insurgents then started chucking rocks at Gobble and Stafford’s fighting position, hoping that the soldiers might think the rocks were grenades, causing them to jump from the safety of their fighting hole. One rock hit a tree behind Stafford and landed directly between his legs. He braced himself for an explosion. He then realized it was a rock.
Stafford didn’t have a weapon, and Gobble was low on ammo. Gobble told Stafford they had to get back to the FOB. They didn’t realize that Pitts was still alive in another fighting position at the observation post. Gobble and Stafford crawled out of their fighting hole. Gobble looked again to where the soldiers had been fighting and reconfirmed to Stafford that Brostrom, Rainey, Bogar and others were dead.
Gobble and Stafford low-crawled and ran back to the FOB. Coming into the FOB, Stafford was asked by a sergeant what was going on at the observation post. Stafford told him all the soldiers there were dead. Stafford lay against a wall, and his fellow soldiers put a tourniquet on him.
From the OP, Pitts got on the radio and told his comrades he was alone. At least three soldiers went to the OP to rescue Pitts, but they suffered wounds after encountering RPG and small-arms fire.
At that time, air support arrived in the form of Apache helicopters, A-10s and F-15s, performing bombing and strafing runs.
When the attack began, Walker was on the FOB. He grabbed an M-249 and started shooting toward a mountain spur where he could see some muzzle flashes. Walker put down 600 to 800 rounds of ammunition.
He got down behind the wall he was shooting from to load more ammo and was told they were taking fire from the southwest. He threw the bipod legs of his machine gun on the hood of a nearby Humvee. A 7.62-millimeter caliber bullet struck Walker’s left wrist, knocking him to the ground. A soldier applied a tourniquet to Walker and bandaged him.
Walker and two other wounded soldiers distributed their ammo and grenades and passed messages.
The whole FOB was covered in dust and smoke, looking like something out of an old Western movie.
"I’ve never seen the enemy do anything like that," said Walker, who was medically evacuated off the FOB in one of the first helicopters to arrive. "It’s usually three RPGs, some sporadic fire and then they’re gone … I don’t where they got all those RPGs. That was crazy."
Two hours after the first shots were fired, Stafford made his way — with help — to the medevac helicopter that arrived.
"It was some of the bravest stuff I’ve ever seen in my life, and I will never see it again because those guys," Stafford said, then paused. "Normal humans wouldn’t do that. You’re not supposed to do that — getting up and firing back when everything around you is popping and whizzing and trees, branches coming down and sandbags exploding and RPGs coming in over your head … It was a fistfight then, and those guys held ’ em off."
Stafford offered a guess as to why his fellow soldiers fought so hard.
"Just hardcoreness I guess," he said. "Just guys kicking ass, basically.




Baby a boost in fight against cancer

By Rick SteigmeyerWorld staff writer
Posted July 22, 2008

Fred Bull, 29, sits on the couch Monday as his wife, Naomi Bull, sits in their rocking chair with their 11-day-old baby, Eva Marie Bull. Fred Bull, who underwent extensive chemotherapy and radiation treatment for a malignant brain tumor, says he is still in awe that Eva was conceived naturally and is perfectly healthy, after all that he has been through. (World photo/Kathryn Stevens)
WENATCHEE — The gift of a child is the gift of life times two for Fred and Naomi Bull.
Fred Bull, 29, sits on the coach with his 11-day-old baby Eva Marie Bull on Monday evening in their home in Wenatchee. (World photo/Kathryn Stevens)
Eva Marie Bull was born July 10 at Central Washington Hospital. Her parents say she's perfect in every way.
And that miracle of life has offered new inspiration for Fred, whose fight against brain cancer was at an all-time low only a month ago, when doctors gave him only months to live.
"I'll tell you one thing. When you're going through this, all you have to do is take one look at your baby girl, and all that's bad goes to the wayside," said Bull, sitting on his couch Monday with his daughter, who was in his lap, kicking her tiny feet in the air. The name Eva, he said, was picked partly for its Hebrew-derived meaning of "life." The child was conceived naturally. An article published in this paper June 26 incorrectly stated that the baby was conceived using in-vitro fertilization methods.
"She wasn't supposed to be here," he said. "When I went through chemo earlier, doctors said I probably wouldn't be able to have kids."
Bull said he's become increasingly strong over the last two weeks and has been able to return to work remodeling the house he expects to move his family into in about two weeks. He said he definitely feels his health is improving. Several carpenter friends have been helping him with the project. Still, he said he can no longer read or write, and his memory has become cloudy. Doctors say he could suffer a stroke or lapse into a coma at any time.
Naomi said she is recovering quickly from the Caesarean-section birth and is enjoying being home with Eva and Fred. Fred was with her as their 8-pound, 2-ounce baby was born. They live in a small house on Delaware Avenue behind the larger house that Fred is remodeling. Fred is close enough to be a full co-parent as he works on the house.
"We're learning how to be parents and meeting her basic needs," Naomi said. "It's totally a team thing."
Fred, 29, has undergone three operations over the past five years to remove tumors in his brain. Central Washington Hospital physicians determined that the cancer had returned again last month and advised him to undergo chemotherapy, the only thing that could possibly save his life at this point, they said. The couple decided to forego another round of chemo and rely on prayer, their strong faith in God, diet and other natural healing methods.
And the magic of birth.
"It's absolutely incredible. I've waited my whole life for that," he said about the birth of his daughter. "I think Eva is going to be awesome, just from what her parents have gone through."

Hide the Doritos, here comes HR!

Hide the Doritos! Here comes HR
With an eye on soaring health care costs, companies are becoming more proactive about what their employees eat.

By BusinessWeek
The lawyers at boutique law firm Littler Mendelson have always liked their carbs. For years the firm's sumptuous San Francisco headquarters overflowed with endless trays of Krispy Kremes, gooey sweet rolls and gigantic muffins.
Then one day the attorneys showed up for a firm breakfast and found hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, mini-quiches, cottage cheese and fresh fruit. "Where's the doughnuts?" ranted the associates.
Littler Mendelson's human-resources chief, Suzanne Perez, feared mass sugar withdrawal, but she yanked the junk anyway. And though she's not too popular at the office right now, she's in good company. Google, Yamaha of America, Caterpillar and others are putting health food in corporate break rooms, cafeterias and vending machines, dumping doughnuts in favor of organic fresh fruit and slapping "calorie taxes" on fatty foods.
For several years the company wellness police -- the folks obsessed with bringing down exploding health insurance costs -- have confined themselves to targeting chunky cube dwellers with subsidized cholesterol drugs, free gym memberships and New Age-spouting health coaches. But what good is all that if the office vending machine is filled with candy, cola and chips, or if cookies and cake are served at every meeting?
"I didn't think we were being aggressive enough," says Carol Baker, the HR boss at Yamaha.
But getting junkies to detox isn't easy. "People aren't ready to give up everything," Baker says.
Don't let them eat cake Google, the company famously committed to doing no evil, is a case in point. Yes, the Googleplex swarms with svelte 20-somethings in snug tops and low-slung denim. But even these workers aren't immune to the so-called Google 15 -- the number of pounds Googlers say they typically gain after joining the company and partaking of its famous gratis grub.
As one blogger put it, "I fully expect a Google Infarct Room to be opened within two years."
Google's "micro-kitchens" -- the snack stations within 200 feet of every worker's desk -- were like small 7-Elevens.
"We kept adding things and adding things and adding things," says Google's former food-services chief, John Dickman. Like 20 kinds of sugared cereal. Or, in the cafeteria, the Luther Burger, a bacon-cheese number with Krispy Kreme doughnuts as the bun.
It wasn't long before some Googlers were pondering the philosophical implications on the company's in-house message boards. Wretched excess with stock options was one thing. But wasn't free junk food kind of, ahem, evil?
Yet when Dickman ditched the M&M's, employees argued that the measure was about costs, not calories. (That was a hard case to make given Google's valet parking, free massages and bidet-equipped restrooms.)
"There were certain things they couldn't live without," Dickman says. So the M&M's returned. But the junk-healthful ratio is now 50-50, with agave-sweetened beverages, roasted nuts, sulfate-free dried fruit and platters of organic crudités.
At Yamaha, Baker has done away with the "zillions" of pies in favor of regular shipments of organic fruit from San Francisco's Fruit Guys, whose business in providing workplaces across the U.S. with pesticide-free, locally grown fruit is exploding. (It turns out that fruit is cheaper than the pies.)
Lunchtime is another battle. Yamaha's Buena Park, Calif., headquarters is situated near a thoroughfare chockablock with fast-food joints. So Baker brought in a catering company offering healthful salads and sandwiches.
"We're trying to change people's behaviors," she says.

The 'calorie tax' Baker soon found out that employees were not the only resisters.
"The vending machine people were not very supportive," she says. At first, she says, they grudgingly tossed in some trail mix and stuck a little heart sticker next to those fluorescent orange crackers with peanut butter.
But within weeks, the potato chips and candy bars were back. Junk moves.
That's why some companies are getting to employees' stomachs through their wallets. After Caterpillar offered garden burgers in its cafeteria for a buck last year, sales soared fivefold, to 2,500 a month. At mortgage giant Freddie Mac, workers who order six healthful meals in the cafeteria get the seventh free.
Florida Power & Light, Dow Corning and Sprint Nextel all charge more for unhealthful food (the so-called calorie tax) and less for more healthful fare. At Pitney Bowes, they moved the desserts away from the cash register to curb impulse buys.

Some companies feel like a re-education camp. Microsoft's food honcho, Mark Freeman, created a color-coded system of icons to help make the healthful stuff as recognizable as a Snickers bar. (Microsoft is the publisher of MSN Money).
In each of Microsoft's 31 cafeterias, there are icons for vegan, gluten-free, organic, sustainable, sugar-free, carb control and nondairy. Freeman has also made the company's metropolislike headquarters a trans-fat-free zone.
At first, "everybody was yelling and screaming about the healthy food," Freeman says. But the Microserfs are coming around.
For those who don't, there is always tough love. HR types swarmed the New York Marriott Marquis hotel in February to learn how to implement lean-worker campaigns, biggest-loser contests and strategic-eating seminars. During breaks over yogurt and fruit, the attendees swapped war stories about how overweight workers eat up health-care dollars.
As one executive from a major software company quipped: "We're waging a war on fat people."
Junk food lovers, beware. These people are serious.
This article was reported and written by Michelle Conlin for BusinessWeek.
Published May 8, 2008

Commentary by Arianna: Seriously? Management is working people to death at law firms and tech companies across the nation and what workers need most is health food? Now I personally believe in all the healthy perks in the world. I think a healthy vending machine and gym memberships are fabulous. HOWEVER, the thing that would be the most healthy for American workers, UM... MORE TIME OFF! No duh! There are studies on top of studies that show that our European counterparts have much lower rates of depression, divorce, alcoholism, heart disease, and other health issues because they have MUCH MORE VACATION TIME! Children are better adjusted because they have paid maternity leave.

So to the HR people, keep your hands OFF of my candy drawer at work and convince my boss that it is actually a GOOD thing for me to not come in on the weekends and holidays, OK?

Mid Week Update on Fire and Marilyn

The Badger Mountain Fire should be completely contained by this evening, yeah! My mom's cabin and my grandma's house are both safe!

Marilyn does have a urinary tract infection AND an ear infection. The doctor was surprised because Marilyn hasn't complained at all about either. The whole purpose of the appointment yesterday was to get her on a different antibiotic, one she would take. Guess what? She doesn't like the new antibiotic either!

My friend Regan had her third baby last week, Jeven, and we get to see him tonight. The girls are so excited, I'll have to get some cute pictures of them with him.

Waterville Days and the Badger Mountain Fire

We spent this last weekend up at Waterville Days and taking care of sickie Marilyn. The girls were VERY excited to go to the Waterville Days Parade because it is the only parade left where they still throw candy (and we all know how badly the girls need more candy:)

We started out Saturday with breakfast and coffee and on our way to Waterville, we were actually on time! The Badger Mountain and Browns Canyon fires started last Tuesday and the Browns Canyon fire had been contained at that point. The Badger Mountain fire blew up Friday, then Saturday again. Several of the hillsides on the way to Waterville were charred as the Badger Mountain fire had taken a run toward the river, down by Lincoln Rock State Park. It was amazing to see some of the lush green orchards surrounded by charred hillside. Quite the picture!

Waterville Days was fun. We got to see lots of old friends AND watch the 5 entry Parade! Everyone threw candy! We also got to see our friend's band, Wide Eyed Coma, play. Check them out at: http://www.garageband.com/artist/wideeyedcoma.

We got to see the fire fighting efforts from Pine Canyon and from SR 2/97. On Sunday, we saw the helicopter dip into the river to get the water it was dumping on the fire. It seemed like it was just a few feet away. Pictures of the fire are below.

The fire is jeopardizing my mom and Cripper's cabin on Badger as well as my Grandma's home. Both are at a level 3 evacuation (which is the highest). The current thought seems to be if the firefighters can keep the winds at bay tonight, the fire will be under control. Thank you to the firefigthers!

As for Marilyn's health, she had fevers all day Sunday and Monday as well. The PA thinks it is a Urinary Tract Infection, we will get a confirmation today. I hope it is that easy. The antibiotics they gave Marilyn taste terrible. I know because she made me taste it first. Please keep Marilyn in your thoughts and prayers.

Fourth of July Weekend

Well, the Cozart Clan had a busy, busy weekend! We started off by traveling about 150 miles to my grandma's house in Redmond to drop off Marilyn. We made the mistake of taking Stevens Pass (by the way, it is, AT MOST, maybe 10 minutes faster than Blewett/Snoqualmie.) On the way we had to stop at McDonald's (twice), to get gas, for Josh to smoke, and for Marilyn to go potty. Except what looked like a bathroom was actually a sheltered port a potty with a train car outside of it. So Josh and I tried to hold Marilyn above the hole to go #2 but she refused.

After Grandma's we headed to my sister Sheiska's. We got to hang out a bunch with my sister at her beautiful house and with her two beautiful toddlers. It was a blast! We then played Rock Band with them and Colt, my oldest nephew (not to be confused with my oldest brother in law, also a Colt). I rocked the house on vocals.

Next morning we got up and headed for Olympia for the famous Matt Peppard/Jenny Gulbin wedding. It was awesome! It was in the Premier Gay Bar in Olympia, Jakes. Very cool. When Jenny came down the aisle, they played Rocket Queen. FABULOUS! (Please note: the Happy Couple is not gay, they just chose to get married in a gay bar because they are SUPER COOL!)

Then we dashed to Grandma's to pick up the girls and headed home. Marilyn cried about the last 1.5 hours of the trip. That sucked. Josh was almost attacked by a druggie outside of a 7-11 but when Josh gave him the crazy eye, the guy stopped dead in his tracks and retreated. YIKES!

We spent all day yesterday recovering. I am SO glad we don't have anything planned for a while! We put 1,000 miles on Josh's car in the last two weeks!

Oh, and the best part (well, not really, but I had to show you), my new Coach sunglasses!

Happy Fourth of July everyone!

How Good of a Citizen Are You?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25461301/

I scored 70% and missed some really easy ones. Among them being: how long we elect a U.S. Senator, who drafted the Constitution, and when the Constitution was written.

Whoops!

Happy Fourth of July! And Thank You to all those who have served our country as soldiers, government workers, and protect our safety every day as firefighters and police!

Darcy Burner

Darcy Burner was one of the first members of PALS (Parents Attending Law School), an organization I co-founded during my second year of law school. She was very nice, down-to-earth, and a great presence in our organization.

I hope that she wins this election as she is incredibly intelligent and a great role model for working women.

Today, her family's home burnt down. The article is: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2008027474_webfire01m.html

I pray for Darcy and her family and thank God for all of their safety.

New Blog!

This is the Cozart Family Blog. The Cozart Family consists of Josh, Arianna, Alexis, and Marilyn (and Big Kitty).

Ok, so I've bugged the heck out of everyone to get on Facebook and My Space and I don't feel like bugging anymore. So we'll see if anyone cares to keep up with the Cozarts via a Blog!

Bare with me as I learn!

Love,

Arianna