Monday, September 29, 2008
The Pledge
I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word?"
I -- me, an individual, a committee of one.
Pledge -- dedicate all of my worldly goods to give without self pity.
Allegiance -- my love and my devotion.
To the flag -- our standard, Old Glory, a symbol of freedom. Wherever she waves, there's respect because your loyalty has given her a dignity that shouts freedom is everybody's job!
United -- that means that we have all come together.
States -- individual communities that have united into 48 great states.
Forty-eight individual communities with pride and dignity and purpose; all divided with imaginary boundaries, yet united to a common purpose, and that's love for country.
And to the republic -- a state in which sovereign power is invested in representatives chosen by the people to govern. And government is the people and it's from the people to the leaders, not from the leaders to the people.
For which it stands, one nation -- one nation, meaning "so blessed by God"
Indivisible -- incapable of being divided.
With liberty -- which is freedom -- the right of power to live one's own life without threats, fear or some sort of retaliation.
And Justice -- the principle or quality of dealing fairly with others.
For all -- which means, boys and girls, it's as much your country as it is mine.
Since I was a small boy, two states have been added to our country
and two words have been added to the pledge of Allegiance...
UNDER GOD - Wouldn't it be a pity if someone said that is a prayer
and that would be eliminated from schools too?
God Bless America!
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Children are an heritage of the Lord....
As I approach the middle of my pregnancy, I really truly am pensive, can I do it agin? Do I have it in me?
Once these adorable creatures are in my arms, of course! I know it is all worth it, but the 40 weeks of misery, can I handle it .... Ever again?
"The Lord did not say to multiply and replenish the earth if it is convenient, or if you are wealthy, or after you have gotten your schooling, or when there is peace on earth, or until you have four children. The Bible says, "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord: ". . . Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them. . ." (Ps. 127:3, 5.) We believe God is glorified by having numerous children and a program of perfection for them. So also will God glorify that husband and wife who have a large posterity and who have tried to raise them up in righteousness."
President Ezra Taft Benson
Conference Report, April 1969, Pg.12
Monday, September 22, 2008
Madi Finally did it!
She recorded a song and is letting me post it or all the world to see!
I am so Proud of her!
I am so Proud of her!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Song by Susana Baig....
Susana Lost her father to a drunk driver, this song is written in memory of him.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Families & Adoption
This is dear to my heart, since I can remember I have wanted to adopt a child. or 12 :D
I have been blessed to meet and become friends with some amazing adoptive mothers(parents),
Alana is inspiring, she puts the needs of her boys ahead of herself and is so patient with all of their Island quirks.
Mindy had some from several continents, and her kids are a prefect match to her family, they are so adorable!
Shelli has adopted kids from the foster system and has taken on mountains of headaches just to give these kids an eternal family, she is a Saint!
I have been closely watching Brandon & Amanda waiting patiently, they have been married over 8 years and have wanted children So badly! Amanda crochets baby booties and has made them for every one she knows, and finally this summer she had a baby placed in her arms, baby K. And boy she steals your heart with every glance! I a so happy for them!
Now onto Beth & Brian, they had twins, I think it has been over a year.... they lost their twins, and decided after they had mourned and mended in what ways they could, they too would build their family through adoption, I would like nothing more than to see their family grow! They are such sweet and loving people, who have been through the ringer just to have a sweet bundle in their arms. take the time to look at their faces, and if you have a contact for them, well that would just be awesome!
I have been blessed to meet and become friends with some amazing adoptive mothers(parents),
Alana is inspiring, she puts the needs of her boys ahead of herself and is so patient with all of their Island quirks.
Mindy had some from several continents, and her kids are a prefect match to her family, they are so adorable!
Shelli has adopted kids from the foster system and has taken on mountains of headaches just to give these kids an eternal family, she is a Saint!
I have been closely watching Brandon & Amanda waiting patiently, they have been married over 8 years and have wanted children So badly! Amanda crochets baby booties and has made them for every one she knows, and finally this summer she had a baby placed in her arms, baby K. And boy she steals your heart with every glance! I a so happy for them!
Now onto Beth & Brian, they had twins, I think it has been over a year.... they lost their twins, and decided after they had mourned and mended in what ways they could, they too would build their family through adoption, I would like nothing more than to see their family grow! They are such sweet and loving people, who have been through the ringer just to have a sweet bundle in their arms. take the time to look at their faces, and if you have a contact for them, well that would just be awesome!
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Happy Birthday Abigel!
Abigel turns 10 on the 16th of Sept.
She is so fun & energetic, she makes us all laugh and keeps us on our toes.
We sure adore and appreciate all the personality she was sent with, it is amazing to me how much 'spit fire' can exist in one petite little girl.
She knows what she believes and she LETS you know it!
I love you Abigel, thanks for your die-hard honesty, your black and white integrity and your faith... it really pulls us through.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
We need to VOTE! (us women!)
This is a COPY of an email sent to me
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920
that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.
(Lucy Burns)
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242902961537435042" />
(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/pri soners.pdf
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-
-why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made.
This is the story of our Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers; they lived only 90 years ago.
Remember, it was not until 1920
that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.
The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.
(Lucy Burns)
And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.
(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cell mate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.
Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.
alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5242902961537435042" />(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.
http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/pri soners.pdf
So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year because-
-why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?
Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's new
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.
All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.
My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'
HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.
It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.
The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'
Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.
We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.
History is being made.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
My baby boy turns 2!!
I woke him up this morning singing "Happy Birthday"
And the celebration was over, no cake, no gifts, no fanfare, just a song and a kiss.
(Wes thinks 'birthdays' are overrated any way...)
He got to crack the eggs for his breakfast, he thought that was pretty cool, and he picked waffles for breakfast.
His birth was the most empowering event of my life, and he is such a gem.
Here are some photos of his turning 2 Day!
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
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