LBJ Presidential Museum




The First Exhibit

When my sister and I went to 4-H Day at the Capitol, my  family decided to make a trip out of it. After, touring the capitol in Austin, we drove into the enemy's headquarters. In the darkness a small light shone, that light happened to be the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Museum.



 

Lady Bird's Office

When we went, the museum had a seasonal display about the march to Selma in celebration of the civil rights anniversary. The exhibit was educational and had some good pictures, but it was really basic.

 On the 1st floor, there was a time line that went all around the main room, a seasonal display, short movie, gift shop, and an area that showed political cartoons about LBJ's life.
For me, the highlight of the1st floor was the timeline. The time line showed what was going on in LBJ's life as well as what was happening in the world.

On the 2nd floor there was an area were you could listen in on LBJ's phone calls while he was in the office, pictures and short biography of each President and First Lady. A summary of LBJ's accomplishments, and a walk through of what LBJ achieved in office.  My favorite part was the Vietnam war memorabilia because I was able to learn about what caused the war.

The last floor, was mainly about Lady Bird Johnson and their time on the ranch. One of the interesting parts that I enjoyed, was seeing Lady Bird's office. Before she died, she was using the office in her museum to work. When she passed away, everything was left the way it was, which was pretty neat to see. Also, we got to see items that he used to promote his election. One item was a razor with his name on it; LBJ chose this so that men could see his name every morning when they got ready.

Over all, I really enjoyed the museum and would recommend visiting it if you have the opportunity. For me, it wasn't as dated as some of the reviews said and I would give it 8 stars out of 10.

 

A great video about LBJ'S life.

The Ben Carson Story

For my birthday, I received a book called "Gifted Hands, The Ben Carson Story".  As I read this inspiring biography, I was amazed to find that his mother, Sonya only had a third grade education but encouraged her son, Ben to go on and become a brilliant neurosurgeon. If you want to hear the full review continue reading.

Dr. Carson was born as the second son of Sonya and Robert Solomon Carson. When he was eight years old, his Dad left the house and took all the family's money with him. This was no surprise because he had married Sonya when she was only thirteen years old to "rescue" her from the orphanage. Ben had one brother who was two years older than him named Curtis. When Ben was eight, he and Curtis attended Sunday school. One Sunday they heard about a missionary doctor who escaped some robbers. Ben thought that this sounded very exciting and wanted to become a missionary doctor. During this time, young Ben was doing very bad in school and his mother often took long breaks to "visit relatives". In fact she was  checking  herself into mental hospitals and getting counseling. When she felt better, she would go back to the boys.

To save money, Sonya moved with her sons to Boston, Massachusetts and stayed with relatives until they had enough money to move back to their house in Detroit. Which they were renting out. Ben and Curtis's mother made them stop watching television and start reading books to help improve their grades. It worked!

Ben saw the school spelling bee and the next year he practiced really hard and won it that year. During Ben's eighth grade year his family moved back to their old house in Detroit. Here he was picked on at school and developed a temper. One day he pulled out a knife at a friend, horrified he ran home and realized he need to learn to control his temper better. He asked God to help him and after a week he had learned how to better control his temper. Also, he wanted to  now become a regular Doctor because it payed better.

Ben graduated High school.

(Right to left)Sonya, Ben, and Candy

In 1969 he was excepted unto Yale. Yale was pretty hard for him and he almost flunked chemistry.  He prayed to God to help him with final test so that he would be able to move on in chemistry. God blessed Ben with a dream. In that dream were the exact questions and answers that were in the test the next day.
In his third year at Yale he met Candy Rustin on campus. He invited her to church with him and they got to know each other better. She was studying to be a nurse. Ben had finish up at Yale and went to the University of Michigan School of Medicine. Candy still had two more years at Yale so they wrote to each other every day. Ben did wonderful in medical school and invented a new faster way to find the foramen ovale which amazed all of his teachers. during this time he decided to become a neurosurgeon. Between his second and third year at medical school he and Candy got married and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan. here he finish up his last years in medical school. during 1978 to 1982 he worked at the John Hopkins hospital. Then he and Candy moved to Australia for one year. Here Dr. Carson trained students at a medical school over there. when they came back to America they brought their new son Ben jr. or BJ for short with them. Dr. Carson went  back to John Hopkins hospital and became their chief neurosurgeon here he did a hemispherectomy (where you remove half of a brain)on a three year old. Dr. Carson did one of his most famous surgeries in 1987 which was when he separated two craniopagus Siamese twins for the first time. before the end of his career he became famous for separating many craniopagus Siamese twins and for all that he has done in the medical career.        
The picture on the left shows Dr. Carson with his family. His mother is sitting in the middle.

I really enjoyed this book and would recommend it because this is a inspiring, Christian biography.







                                                                                    .





To learn more here are some helpful websites.
Teen Ink Gifted hands review
National Review Gifted Hands
 Ben Carson .achievement.org
Ben Carson bio.

Jesus

Today, I will be telling you about the most important person in the world. Perhaps you've heard about him. His name is Jesus. Why is he so important? Because he died for my sins and yours. (John 3:16 states "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Everyone will have eternal life but unless you ask Jesus to come in your life you will have eternal life in hell.  

To be saved all you have to do is believe and say the ABC's to become a Christian. 

The ABC's to becoming a Christian are:

1. Admit you are a sinner. "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)

2. Believe that Jesus Christ died for you, was buried, and rose from the dead.
3. Confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

Romans 10:9 says, "If you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved."

If you believe and say a simple prayer like this one below, that's all there is to it. You can accept Jesus Christ at this moment and not spend your eternity in hell.

Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for Your forgiveness. I believe You died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite You to come into my heart and life. I want to trust and follow You as my Lord and Savior. In Your Name.

Amen.

A helpful site for new believers is here.

Now that you know how to become a Christian, you should do the following to help build your faith and gain support from other Christians.

Go to church. This is important because you can fellowship with other Christians.

Read the Bible so you can grow closer to God.

Share the gospel with other nonbelievers.

Becoming saved will not mean that your life here on earth will be perfect. The Bible states "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.  Christians still have problems BUT we are not alone, we have God to help us through hard times.



If you decide not to say this prayer today and are not saved, please talk to a saved friend or a pastor of a local Christian church soon to understand the importance of this message.  Don't wait.  You may comment on my blog and I will do my best to help if you have questions.

Marguerite Henry

One of my favorite authors is Marguerite Henry. I like her works because they are educational and most are based on true stories. Also, I love horses. Her works include: Album of Horses, Black Gold, Born to Trot, Brighty of the Grand Canyon, Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, 5 o' clock Charlie, Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and the Misty of Chincoteague series.        

 Marguerite Henry was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on April 12, 1902 to Anna and Louis Brithaupt.  Marguerite was the youngest of her five siblings. Mr. Brithaupt was a well respected publisher. When she was six, she was diagnosed with rheumatic fever. As her seventh Christmas present, her Father gave her a red table and writing supplies. Until she was eleven which was when she recovered from the rheumatic fever she spent a lot of her time writing on her table. Her first published story was called "Hide-and-Seek in Autumn Leaves". Later in Marguerite Henry's life she said ,"At last I had a world of my very own -- a writing world, and soon it would be populated by all the creatures of my imagination." Marguerite loved to read and got a job at the local library mending books. Ever since a young age she had always wanted to be a writer but deiced that it was not a practical career. She Graduated the Milwaukee State Teachers College and became an English teacher. During the summers Marguerite and her sisters went on a trip to a fishing camp. There she met Sidney Crocker Henry her future husband. Later, Marguerite and Sidney got married on May 5, 1923. 

During their sixty-four years that they were married, they didn't have any children instead they had numerous pets. Marguerite wrote her first children's book called Auno and Tauno it was about her friends stories about their native country, Finland. When she had finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse, she wanted to get it illustrated. She said,” I had just finished writing Justin Morgan Had a Horse, and wanted the best horse artist in the world to illustrate it. So I went to the library, studied the horse books, and immediately fell in love with the work of Will James and Wesley Dennis. When I found out that Will James was dead, I sent my manuscript to Wesley Dennis."  In 1945 Justin Morgan Had a Horse was published. Over all Wesley Dennis illustrated fifteen of her books. Sadly, her husband died in 1987. Just after she published Brown Sunshine of Sawdust Valley, she passed away on November 26, 1997 at her home in Rancho Santa Fe, California. Overall she had written fifty-eight books. 

Helpful websites I used are http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Henry

Also I used http://www.yourlibrary.ws/childrens_webpage/j-author42001.html

           Thanks for reading 

          

The picture of Marguerite Henry with the horse is taken from this website.     http://horsesforliteracy.com/about/

The picture of Marguerite Henry is taken from this website. http://www.yourlibrary.ws/childrens_webpage/j-author42001.html0 

Walt Disney

This post I'd like to start with a quote by Walt Disney; "The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing". My awesome Dad found this really neat book about Walt Disney at a book store in Dallas. The book is in one of my favorite series called Childhood of Famous Americans. This book told a little more than just about his childhood which I enjoyed reading. I learned the following about his life from this book: 

In the year 1906, when Walt Disney was four years old, his parents, three brothers and one sister all moved to a farm in Marceline, Missouri because his father thought city life was unhealthy for his sons. Walt's brothers were named Roy who was thirteen at the time, Herbert who was seventeen, and Raymond who was fifteen. Walt Disney's sister Ruth was two. Walt's brothers Herbert and Raymond were not too fond of leaving Chicago but were excited about moving to Missouri. On the train ride to Marceline, Walt befriended the conductor and was shown around the train which he greatly enjoyed.


When they moved to the farm, Walt's Dad, along with Herbert and  Raymond plowed, planted and tended the crops. Roy's job was looking after two horses and a few cows. He also milked the cows in the morning and at night. Walt Disney's Mom tended her small garden, cared for the chickens and sold eggs in town. Walt's chore was tending the pigs which was a hard task because there was not a pigpen built yet. Walt really enjoyed his chore; once he even dressed up one of the pigs! He also rode the hogs and named them too. One day Roy taught Walt how to milk the cows. Walt enjoyed this job and liked feeding the barn cats milk. Walt Disney's father had brought some tar near the house to fix a leak in the roof. When Walt saw this he thought it was paint and began to paint a picture of one of the pigs on the house. Soon his Dad found out and Walt was punished. Paper was scarce on the farm so when his Aunt Maggie gave him a drawing book he was really happy. One day a doctor asked Walt if he could draw a picture of his horse. Walt agreed when the picture was finished the doctor payed him a nickle. Walt Disney was very pleased for this was his first picture he had ever sold. Herbert and Raymond left the farm and went back to Chicago. The remaining Disney family had to sale their farm because there were few buyers for their crops. 


Then they moved to Kansas City where their father ran a newspaper company. Roy and Walt were both paperboys for their father's business. Between delivering papers and school,Walt did extra jobs to earn money such as deliveryman at a drug store and a part time job at a candy store. Walt Disney  took a class on how to draw comics through the mail. One day when Walt was looking for something to draw he drew a picture of the barber. His picture was so good that  he obtained a job drawing comics for the barber to put up in his shop each week. It was then when he decided to become a cartoonist. Sometimes while he was on his paper route, he would find stray dogs. Then he would take them home to play with after school. They never would be there when he returned though. One day on his paper route, he found a  baby mouse on a sidewalk. He put it in his pocket to keep it safe while he continued his chores. Later, while he was at school the baby mouse had woken up and began to explore his pocket. Soon it escaped and sat on Walt's desk. This caught the other students attention and the teacher made Walt let the mouse free outside. Another time Walt and his Mom and sister went to a magic show, Walt was picked as a volunteer for a card trick. After the trick was over, Walt knew that he wanted to learn how to do magic tricks too. When he went home, he found a magazine with magic tricks for sale. He purchased a plate lifter and an few card tricks. He learned how to do all of the tricks and taught his mother how to use the plate lifter because she wanted to try it out on Walt's Dad. When Walt's Mom tried this, Walt's Dad couldn't tell that his plate was moving. Walt Disney also liked to see vaudeville shows, moving pictures and really liked Charlie Chapman. He liked putting on his own little acts with his friend Walter Pfeiffer. 


The Disney family moved again this time back to Chicago. Walt Disney's Dad purchased a jelly factory with his and Walt's money. When not in school, Walt's jobs at the Jelly factory were preparing the fruit into jelly, running machinery,and helping with the packing. Once he even was a night watchman for the factory. Beside the job at the jelly factory he was a gate-man and worked at post office. Two of his brothers were serving over in Europe and Walt wasn't old enough to serve. So one of his friends found him a job with the Red Cross. Together they left to take the job. They spent some time in Chicago and Connecticut training. Later Walt and fifty others left for France. Walt Disney's tasks included driving ambulances, making posters, driving supply trucks, and served in the canteen. When Walt returned from France his father offered him a job at the jelly factory. Walt refused the job and told his Dad that he was going to be a cartoonist. This made his father upset but finally he agreed to let him go.



When Walt Disney moved back to Kansas City, he found a job at Gray Advertising Company that payed fifty dollars a month. The first person he told was his aunt Maggie who was very excited for him when he  told her the news. Walt's job at Gray Advertising Company ended after six weeks. After being layed off from his job, he and his friend Ub Iwerks decided to start their own business called  Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artist.  Walt found a job at the Kansas Film Ad Company so he and Ub got a job there. They really enjoyed making animated cartoons.  Walt made his own animated cartoon advertisements called Laugh-O- Grams and sold them to the theaters. Then he decided to animate seven fairy tales which were each seven minutes long. The next thing Walt Disney came up with was his own small company called Laugh-O- Gram Corporation. Sadly, Walt's  company went bankrupt and Walt was out of a job again. This time he found a job taking pictures of people's kids. With the money Walt had earned, he went to see his brother Roy. There they decided to go in the cartoon business again. Walt along with other artists would draw the cartoons and Roy would manage the money.


Walt Disney married a lady named Lilly. Together they went to New York City to ask the distributor of  one of his films for more money. Instead of getting more money, to film the distributor said he could make the cartoon without Disney's help. Sadly, he and Lily left to go back to California. While on the train he came up with the idea of Mortimer mouse. His wife didn't like the name so he changed it to Mickey Mouse. After allot of time, he and Roy made Mickey Mouse a success. Mickey became famous world-wide by
the Queen Mary of  England, President Theodore Roosevelt, and even the Italian dictator Mussolini. Then Walt started animating Snow White and the Seven Drawfs; this became a huge success. After WW2 was over, Walt used the English countryside for a setting for Robin Hood, Treasure Island and Rob Roy.


No one really knows where Walt Disney came up with Disneyland but it first started when Walt ran a mini train through his yard. Then he convinced Roy to come up with the funds to create a theme park that would be fun for Dads too. One thing led to another and soon lead scientists started helping  build and design Disneyland. Walt lived to get to see it finished in 1955. Walt Disney died in the year of 1966 of lung cancer. His legacy still lives on in Disneyland and Disneyworld. I woul like to close with a qruote by Walt Disney " Whenever I go on a ride, I'm always thinking of what's wrong with the thing and how it can be improved". Thanks for reading. 
If you have any questions or suggestions please fill free leave a comment.  

Read more quotes by Walt Disney at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/w/walt_disney_3.html#yUVEK7PLvDd6ybrW.99

Walter Farley

Mr. Walter Farley 

I haven't done many posts about books so I've decided to do a book post today. But it was really hard to pick a book so I'm going to do a series of posts on favorite authors instead. My favorite authors are Walter Farley, Jean Craighead George, Will James, Ralph Moody, and Robert Lawson. Since I like them all for different reason I am going to put a biography and my favorite books written by each author.

First is Walter Farley, He was born on June 26, 1915 in Syracuse, New York to Walter and Isabelle Farley. The Farley family lived in Manhattan, New York along with there newest son,William who was 2 years younger than Walter. His father worked as a assistant manager in a fancy hotel called the Roosevelt Hotel which is described as one of the classiest hotels in New York. Walter's love for horses started ever since he was a little kid. He once said that "My greatest love was, and still is, horses. I wanted a pony as much as any boy or girl could possibly want anything—but I never owned one. I tried selling subscriptions to win a pony, which was offered as a prize to the kid who sold the most subscriptions. Then my uncle with a flock of show horses and jumpers moved from the West Coast to Syracuse, and I was deliriously happy. I was at the stables every chance I could get.” *     

Walter started writing The Black Stallion when he was in High School and Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. When the book was completed and published in 1941, he was an undergraduate at Columbia University. When he had finished school he went to work as a advertising copywriter in New York. Later he joined the United States Army and served in a tank with the Fourth Armored Division. During the war he met Rosemary Lutz whom he married. When he was discharged he and Rosemary decided to trasvel abroad. After that, the young Farley family purchased a horse farm in Earlville Pennsylvania. Once they had bought the farm they had four children Steve, Tim, Pamela, and Alice.Walter started writing other children books and the sequels to the Black Stallion. The Farley family also had a place in Florida where they would stay during part of the year. Walter Farley died of cancer in October 1989, after a television show came out called the Adventures of the Black Stallion.  He wrote 21 sequels to the The Black Stallion plus several other books. His son Steve helped the series.

I would give The Black Stallion ten stars out of ten because I really enjoyed it and had a great time reading it.

* Quote taken from here .

To learn more here are a  few sites I used.

http://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/bios/Farley__Walter.html 

http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/authordetail.php?aut_id=192

http://www.theweeweb.co.uk/public/author_profile.php?id=710