Remembering John Williamson, Battalion Commander of the New York Fire Department.

You can click on the graphic to go to the God Bless America memorial website if you're interested in adopting a plaque of one of the victims from the tragedies on September 11th.

The song you are listening to is called "Believe" by the Christian metal band, Stryper. The lead singer, Michael Sweet, wrote this song during the Gulf War. Now, after the attacks on September 11th, 2001, I believe that this song applies to the situation.

Below are the lyrics to the song:

This picture was created by a wonderfully talented young artist named Amanda Rhiannon Morrison. She truly captured how we all felt after the planes crashing into the World Trade Center. Please feel free to email her to let her know your thoughts on this awe inspiring picture. Click on the link to email her: Amanda

I think these next 2 pictures pretty much tell how our national symbol feels about what's happened to our country.

New York City skyline as we once knew it

A worldwide email has been going around to your email boxes about Friday night, September 14th, 2001 at 7:00 p.m. & asking you to step out your door, stop your car, or step out of your establishment and light a candle. We will show the world that Americans are strong and united together against terrorism.

The message: WE STAND UNITED - WE WILL NOT TOLERATE TERRORISM!

The following graphics were made by my friends, Danielle, Tracie, & Roberta from one of my graphics list. Thanks gals!!

Below are the lyrics to one of the best songs written about America

Below is a copy of President Bush's speech at Washington's National Cathedral on Friday, September 14th, 2001 for the prayer service.

(CNN) -- President Bush addressed a prayer service on Friday at the Washington National Cathedral. Here is a transcript of his comments:

"We are here in the middle hour of our grief. So many have suffered so great a loss, and today we express our nation's sorrow. We come before God to pray for the missing and the dead, and for those who loved them.

On Tuesday, our country was attacked with deliberate and massive cruelty. We have seen the images of fire and ashes and bent steel.

Now come the names, the list of casualties we are only beginning. They are the names of men and women who began their day at a desk or in an airport, busy with life. They are the names of people who faced death and in their last moments called home to say, be brave and I love you.

They are the names of passengers who defied their murderers and prevented the murder of others on the ground. They are the names of men and women who wore the uniform of the United States and died at their posts.

They are the names of rescuers -- the ones whom death found running up the stairs and into the fires to help others. We will read all these names. We will linger over them and learn their stories, and many Americans will weep.

To the children and parents and spouses and families and friends of the lost, we offer the deepest sympathy of the nation. And I assure you, you are not alone.

Just three days removed from these events, Americans do not yet have the distance of history, but our responsibility to history is already clear: to answer these attacks and rid the world of evil.

War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the timing and terms of others; it will end in a way and at an hour of our choosing.

Our purpose as a nation is firm, yet our wounds as a people are recent and unhealed and lead us to pray. In many of our prayers this week, there's a searching and an honesty. At St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York, on Tuesday, a woman said, "I pray to God to give us a sign that he's still here."

Others have prayed for the same, searching hospital to hospital, carrying pictures of those still missing.

God's signs are not always the ones we look for. We learn in tragedy that his purposes are not always our own, yet the prayers of private suffering, whether in our homes or in this great cathedral are known and heard and understood.

There are prayers that help us last through the day or endure the night. There are prayers of friends and strangers that give us strength for the journey, and there are prayers that yield our will to a will greater than our own.

This world He created is of moral design. Grief and tragedy and hatred are only for a time. Goodness, remembrance and love have no end, and the Lord of life holds all who die and all who mourn.

It is said that adversity introduces us to ourselves.

This is true of a nation as well. In this trial, we have been reminded and the world has seen that our fellow Americans are generous and kind, resourceful and brave.

We see our national character in rescuers working past exhaustion, in long lines of blood donors, in thousands of citizens who have asked to work and serve in any way possible. And we have seen our national character in eloquent acts of sacrifice. Inside the World Trade Center, one man who could have saved himself stayed until the end and at the side of his quadriplegic friend. A beloved priest died giving the last rites to a firefighter. Two office workers, finding a disabled stranger, carried her down 68 floors to safety.

A group of men drove through the night from Dallas to Washington to bring skin grafts for burned victims. In these acts and many others, Americans showed a deep commitment to one another and in an abiding love for our country.

Today, we feel what Franklin Roosevelt called, "the warm courage of national unity." This is a unity of every faith and every background. This has joined together political parties and both houses of Congress. It is evident in services of prayer and candlelight vigils and American flags, which are displayed in pride and waved in defiance. Our unity is a kinship of grief and a steadfast resolve to prevail against our enemies. And this unity against terror is now extending across the world.

America is a nation full of good fortune, with so much to be grateful for, but we are not spared from suffering. In every generation, the world has produced enemies of human freedom. They have attacked America because we are freedom's home and defender, and the commitment of our fathers is now the calling of our time.

On this national day of prayer and remembrance, we ask almighty God to watch over our nation and grant us patience and resolve in all that is to come. We pray that He will comfort and console those who now walk in sorrow. We thank Him for each life we now must mourn, and the promise of a life to come.

As we've been assured, neither death nor life nor angels nor principalities, nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth can separate us from God's love.

May He bless the souls of the departed. May He comfort our own. And may He always guide our country.

God bless America."

Below are the addresses for President George W. Bush, Mayor Rudy Giuliani & NY Governor George Pataki. I found some of these addresses from friends (thanks!) Let's send them cards & letters to let them know that we are thinking of them during this difficult time as they try to rebuild New York City, Washington DC, & the nation.

Below is information on how you can help out with the relief efforts from the September 11th tragedy:

To donate blood, call the American Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE (800-448-3543). The American Red Cross is also accepting cash donations at its own Website, as well as by mail and phone. Below is their website address & mailing address:
www.redcross.org

In addition, the U.S. Salvation Army is is seeking donations of canned goods, clean clothing, and medical supplies such as bandages. A list of sites where donors can drop off materials is available at the local United Way site at www.uwmb.org/sept11/food.htm

New York State
Clean-up Volunteer Hotline
New York State authorities are compiling a database of
volunteers who wish to help in the cleanup effort in New York
when the time comes. The number to call is:
(800) 801-8092

Monetary contributions to assist victims and their families are also welcomed:
World Trade Center
Disaster Relief Fund
P.O. Box 5028
Albany, NY 12205

New York Police & Fire
Widows' and Children's Benefit Fund
Box 3713
Grand Central Station
New York, NY 10163
Accepting financial assistance

New York State
Fraternal Order of Police
WTC Police Disaster Fund
911 Police Plaza
Hicksville, NY 11801

The New York Times
9/11 Neediest Fund
P.O. Box 5193
General Post Office
New York, NY 10087
Accepting monetary contributions to assist victims and their families.

American Airlines Contact Information - 1-800-245-0999.

United Airlines: Information on United Flights 93 and 175 - 1-800-932-8555

NYC Emergency Information

Pentagon - Family members may contact Service representatives: Army: 1-800-984-8523 or 703-428-0002; Navy and Marine Corps: 1-877-663-6772; and Air Force: 1-800-253-9276. Navy and Marine Corps personnel assigned to the Pentagon are also requested to call 1-877-663-6772 for accountability purposes.