Tonight I had the treat of getting out of the house minus husband and children! Now normally I am quite a homebody, and even though I enjoy these outings when I get there, I have to talk myself into getting there. I hate sacrificing family time, or even just husband-time to go out and "hang with the girls". It is something I like to do, and even something I recognize as being important to my mental health, but a part of me is always home.
But this week was a long one...I haven't been feeling well all week. I thought for sure I was getting sick, but no...it is just a headache that is hanging on. Everyday at around one I get a headache, it is like clockwork! I've tried different things like drinking more caffeine, completely eliminating caffeine, eating food...nothing really seems to help. Anyway...all of this means that the girls are even more exhausting than usual, my patience runs out quicker, and that goes for patience toward the husband as well. I think it was Monday night when I remembered that this week was my Oasis (Bible Study) dinner and rejoiced!
So it was great to get out and sit down and eat with other adults without worrying about feeding someone else first, cutting up someone else's food, or fussing about whether other people ate. We all sat and enjoyed dinner while secretly chuckling behind our napkins at the thought of what our husband and children were probably eating.
I think what I love most about getting together with other women is discovering how many things are universal. How our kids are doing the same strange/annoying things, how our post-baby bodies are also doing the same strange/annoying things. Lamenting how things have changed since we had children, but rejoicing in the gift our children are. It is great that we can swap stories and advice and uplift each other.
But the absolute BEST part about getting out is coming back home. I loved that Hannah woke up and called for me and then filled me in on all the things that Daddy did (both right and wrong) and caught up on a few snuggles. I love that I have something to say to Eric that is not about the kids and that he, for once, has a few stories to tell me about the cute things the kids did.
It is good to go to bed and for once feel a tad bit energized and not 100% drained. And I miss my kids, so tomorrow should be a good day! :-)
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Good-bye Huckabee
I was so disappointed in my country last night. It seems that we can never see something that is good and right and embrace it wholeheartedly--either we allow media to manipulate our thinking, or we are just to blind to see truth.
Huckabee gave me hope for my country, my children, and for myself. He ran a good race, and unfortunately was not able to finish with the win. But he finished well, and that is important, too. He did not participate in dirty politics and was a good, honorable man. I've never been so excited to vote, or so proud of my vote.
I sincerely hope to see him back in 2012. I can't imagine being more excited about another candidate.
As for supporting McCain as Huckabee suggested we do...I do not think I'll be able to do that. My husband I will review and discuss before we make a final decision, but I am fairly certain that we had decided to vote for Huckabee or for no one. Most likely we will still be voting for Huckabee. I don't see that McCain is a whole lot better than whichever Democrat makes it to the end.
Thank you, Governor Huckabee, for giving me hope (for however briefly) and for risking it all to run for our president. I wish you had made it!
Huckabee gave me hope for my country, my children, and for myself. He ran a good race, and unfortunately was not able to finish with the win. But he finished well, and that is important, too. He did not participate in dirty politics and was a good, honorable man. I've never been so excited to vote, or so proud of my vote.
I sincerely hope to see him back in 2012. I can't imagine being more excited about another candidate.
As for supporting McCain as Huckabee suggested we do...I do not think I'll be able to do that. My husband I will review and discuss before we make a final decision, but I am fairly certain that we had decided to vote for Huckabee or for no one. Most likely we will still be voting for Huckabee. I don't see that McCain is a whole lot better than whichever Democrat makes it to the end.
Thank you, Governor Huckabee, for giving me hope (for however briefly) and for risking it all to run for our president. I wish you had made it!
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Huckabee Rally
We had the fortunate opportunity to attend a rally for Mike Huckabee on Thursday night. Yes, it was Valentine's Day, but neither one of us would have rather done anything else.
We got a few wires crossed as far as the time, so we ended up waiting for close to two hours in line with both of the kids. So they were pretty much out of patience by the time he actually started speaking. Eric ended up walking around behind the crowds with Grace, while Hannah and I actually got to stand in the front row. That was very nice :-)
Seeing him in person was amazing. Part of me was a little afraid that I wouldn't like him as much as I thought I would. But he was honest and sincere, and as usual, witty and engaging. But most of all he echoed all of the things that are important to me. Prior to learning about Huckabee, I had lost a lot of faith in this country. Unfortunately, I still don't have much faith because of the choices many voters have made, but one thing is for sure, I have hope in the America that Mike Huckabee describes.
Yes, it looks nearly impossible. The odds don't appear to be in his favor. And maybe he won't get the nomination. But maybe he will. God has proven, through the Bible, time and time again that things are done in His time and in His unpredictable way. And if Mike Huckabee is meant to lead, then it does not at all surprise me that God would choose to make it an amazing journey.
Many people have said that voting for Huckabee is throwing your vote away. I disagree with that. If McCain is already the presumptive nominee, and there is nothing you can do to stop it, then why vote? Why go out and vote at all? It is already decided without your input. But if you vote for Huckabee you give him a chance at winning, and every state he wins is a state that McCain doesn't win, and then McCain is prevented from getting those delegates, and from getting the majority that he needs to become the nominee. And if he falls short, even by one, then it goes to the convention and is decided there. And there Huckabee stands a chance.
We have already decided, nominee or no, we're not voting for anyone other than Mike Huckabee come November.
That's my political rant of the day :-)
A blurb from the speech, Huckabee on abortion:
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Politics
I've never been one for politics. Probably has something to do with my grandpa blaming me for the election of Bill Clinton when I was too young to vote. Or perhaps it was that during every quiet moment at family functions, I would hear "Did you see what the Clinton did now?" or something very similar which would lead to the most boring conversation between my dad and grandpa. Blah!
Which is why I surprised myself by getting interested this year. I pretty much ignored the Republican candidates early on because there were so many of them. I tried to sit down and sort them out after the Straw Poll, but I got too confused in all the weird names and different, yet similar, stands. As time went on we heard that Ron Paul was a good choice and investigated him and liked what we saw for the most part. We figured we'd just watch and see what happened with him.
Ironically it was The Tonight Show that triggered my interest. We were tuning in to see how the lack of writers (due to the strike) would impact the show and the guest was Mike Huckabee. Everything he said resonated with what we believed, so we went and investigated him further. We checked out You Tube and really liked a lot of the videos. Even when focusing on a specific candidate it can take a awhile to sort out what they really believe on all the issues.
What amazed me is how open he is about his faith. Some candidates claim that they are Christian but never say another thing about it, and downplay the importance of it in their lives. You are left wondering if they are a "Sunday Christian" or if they truly know our Savior. Mike's strong faith has been pointed out to me as a negative by a few people, and I just don't get that. I think it takes such strength of character to openly embrace a faith in Christ. You can be strongly conservative and get votes that way, without proclaiming your faith. I give him great credit for being unashamed.
Eric loves his Energy Independence policies, which is where he is typically frustrated with Republicans. We both love his stand on Second Amendment Rights. He is not at all wishy-washy about abortion. We think he has some good ideas about Fair Tax, and also immigration.
I've never watched politics like I have been lately. I check the polls regularly and have actually sat through two debates from beginning to end (I usually hate debates because I can't stand to watch people argue and disagree!). The very fact that I am writing this shows that I believe in what Mike Huckabee has to say. Normally I wouldn't want to deal with people arguing with me. I'm not at all confrontational. But with his chances dwindling, Eric and I feel like we can't not speak up about it because, like we usually are, so many people are just not interested when it comes to politics! So they don't know who is who and what is what. Most of the people we know probably won't even vote in the primaries.
So, as soon as February 19 gets here (got that all you WI people, February 19!), we will be casting our vote in his favor. Why don't you check him out, too? You might like what you see!
Which is why I surprised myself by getting interested this year. I pretty much ignored the Republican candidates early on because there were so many of them. I tried to sit down and sort them out after the Straw Poll, but I got too confused in all the weird names and different, yet similar, stands. As time went on we heard that Ron Paul was a good choice and investigated him and liked what we saw for the most part. We figured we'd just watch and see what happened with him.
Ironically it was The Tonight Show that triggered my interest. We were tuning in to see how the lack of writers (due to the strike) would impact the show and the guest was Mike Huckabee. Everything he said resonated with what we believed, so we went and investigated him further. We checked out You Tube and really liked a lot of the videos. Even when focusing on a specific candidate it can take a awhile to sort out what they really believe on all the issues.
What amazed me is how open he is about his faith. Some candidates claim that they are Christian but never say another thing about it, and downplay the importance of it in their lives. You are left wondering if they are a "Sunday Christian" or if they truly know our Savior. Mike's strong faith has been pointed out to me as a negative by a few people, and I just don't get that. I think it takes such strength of character to openly embrace a faith in Christ. You can be strongly conservative and get votes that way, without proclaiming your faith. I give him great credit for being unashamed.
Eric loves his Energy Independence policies, which is where he is typically frustrated with Republicans. We both love his stand on Second Amendment Rights. He is not at all wishy-washy about abortion. We think he has some good ideas about Fair Tax, and also immigration.
I've never watched politics like I have been lately. I check the polls regularly and have actually sat through two debates from beginning to end (I usually hate debates because I can't stand to watch people argue and disagree!). The very fact that I am writing this shows that I believe in what Mike Huckabee has to say. Normally I wouldn't want to deal with people arguing with me. I'm not at all confrontational. But with his chances dwindling, Eric and I feel like we can't not speak up about it because, like we usually are, so many people are just not interested when it comes to politics! So they don't know who is who and what is what. Most of the people we know probably won't even vote in the primaries.
So, as soon as February 19 gets here (got that all you WI people, February 19!), we will be casting our vote in his favor. Why don't you check him out, too? You might like what you see!
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Christmastime
It seems like the last month has gone by in a blink. Busyness will do that, I suppose. Christmas is just 5 days away. Fortunately we are pretty much ready!
It has been lots of fun shopping this year. I love it when you find exactly what you are looking for, and feel like you are really getting your loved ones something they will like and enjoy. And it is even better if it is something they won't expect. And even better than that is if it is something they like, something unexpected, and something on SALE!
Of course there is always the downside to that...I received an email yesterday informing me that my gift for Eric was out of stock and it would not arrive by Christmas. So that left me in a lurch, scrambling desperately to figure something else out for Eric in time for Christmas. His Christmas gift will become his birthday gift, I guess. That's one benefit of a January birthday.
On top of all the Christmas hustle, we noticed that a home we've been watching for some time went down in price. We decided to go and look at it. We have no idea why we were so compelled to go look at it because we both knew it was most likely impossible that we'd ever be able to afford such a house. But we fell in love...it is the perfect house, perfect neighborhood...it needs some cosmetic updates, but after the overhaul we did of our current home, a few cosmetic things is trivial.
Unfortunately the home is in short sale (what happens sometimes prior to it foreclosing) so because of that we cannot place a contingency on the sale of our home, and also cannot "close" the deal until the actual sales papers are signed. Typically when you make an offer on a home, the seller accepts your offer and then it is legally binding and to back out there is a penalty. Not so in this case. It remains open until the actual closing. So if the seller receives a better offer, we could potentially lose the house. So we really have no idea if we'll get the house, or sell ours, and at this point we don't even have an accepted offer from the seller, although we're in negotiations. So tons of prayer would be appreciated! We really want this house to work out, but if it doesn't then obviously God has something different in mind for us. All we can do now is wait, and pray, and wait, and pray...you get the picture.
This weekend we are going to try and "complete" our home. We want to refinish the floors and finish putting some trim around some windows. Things that we've been wanting to do for some time now. Not what we'd like to be doing at Christmas, but we're hoping that there will be some interest in our home starting in January, so we'd like it to be finished by that time.
Well, the clutter is calling for me to clean it up, so I had better get to that. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls at Christmas. In our opinion, there isn't much more precious than that.
It has been lots of fun shopping this year. I love it when you find exactly what you are looking for, and feel like you are really getting your loved ones something they will like and enjoy. And it is even better if it is something they won't expect. And even better than that is if it is something they like, something unexpected, and something on SALE!
Of course there is always the downside to that...I received an email yesterday informing me that my gift for Eric was out of stock and it would not arrive by Christmas. So that left me in a lurch, scrambling desperately to figure something else out for Eric in time for Christmas. His Christmas gift will become his birthday gift, I guess. That's one benefit of a January birthday.
On top of all the Christmas hustle, we noticed that a home we've been watching for some time went down in price. We decided to go and look at it. We have no idea why we were so compelled to go look at it because we both knew it was most likely impossible that we'd ever be able to afford such a house. But we fell in love...it is the perfect house, perfect neighborhood...it needs some cosmetic updates, but after the overhaul we did of our current home, a few cosmetic things is trivial.
Unfortunately the home is in short sale (what happens sometimes prior to it foreclosing) so because of that we cannot place a contingency on the sale of our home, and also cannot "close" the deal until the actual sales papers are signed. Typically when you make an offer on a home, the seller accepts your offer and then it is legally binding and to back out there is a penalty. Not so in this case. It remains open until the actual closing. So if the seller receives a better offer, we could potentially lose the house. So we really have no idea if we'll get the house, or sell ours, and at this point we don't even have an accepted offer from the seller, although we're in negotiations. So tons of prayer would be appreciated! We really want this house to work out, but if it doesn't then obviously God has something different in mind for us. All we can do now is wait, and pray, and wait, and pray...you get the picture.
This weekend we are going to try and "complete" our home. We want to refinish the floors and finish putting some trim around some windows. Things that we've been wanting to do for some time now. Not what we'd like to be doing at Christmas, but we're hoping that there will be some interest in our home starting in January, so we'd like it to be finished by that time.
Well, the clutter is calling for me to clean it up, so I had better get to that. I'll leave you with a picture of the girls at Christmas. In our opinion, there isn't much more precious than that.
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
What a Week So Far
I've been having the worst week so far. This is the third day in a row that I've had the kids to myself from morning 'til bed with no adult contact. It isn't like Eric is off partying so I can't complain a whole lot, but between work and school his schedule is taking a toll on my sanity!
Just tonight was mayhem...Grace has a cold so she was incredibly fussy, so I was carrying her around while clearing the table, I go back into the kitchen to find the dog eating off the table (lost my temper, let me tell you!) and then go into the bathroom to find that Hannah had dumped all of my powder make-up onto the floor. And this was after a day packed with similar incidences...the kids both went to bed early and I wish I could say that it was time to relax but no...now I have to do dishes and fold laundry. Blah!!
To top it all off Eric was roped into doing the Christmas program at church. So logically I realized when I looked at the calendar that this involved Christmas Eve. But yesterday it hit me emotionally when I really realized that Eric was going to be gone for the entire Sunday before Christmas, and on top of that all of Christmas Eve, so that means all family festivities are shot. I'm so the type of person that just thrives on the little family traditions and the fact that this is Grace's first Christmas means a lot to me. So Eric threw a wrench in the whole operation because he couldn't say no to the church, and I didn't realize how much it meant to me that he didn't do it until now. He has the two weekends before Christmas pretty much filled up with rehearsals, performances, etc. Should make for a very lonely Christmas season.
Some highlights from my week:
Playing together so nice
Hannah singing the "Crocodile Song" from Peter Pan
Here's hoping the rest of the week goes better!
Just tonight was mayhem...Grace has a cold so she was incredibly fussy, so I was carrying her around while clearing the table, I go back into the kitchen to find the dog eating off the table (lost my temper, let me tell you!) and then go into the bathroom to find that Hannah had dumped all of my powder make-up onto the floor. And this was after a day packed with similar incidences...the kids both went to bed early and I wish I could say that it was time to relax but no...now I have to do dishes and fold laundry. Blah!!
To top it all off Eric was roped into doing the Christmas program at church. So logically I realized when I looked at the calendar that this involved Christmas Eve. But yesterday it hit me emotionally when I really realized that Eric was going to be gone for the entire Sunday before Christmas, and on top of that all of Christmas Eve, so that means all family festivities are shot. I'm so the type of person that just thrives on the little family traditions and the fact that this is Grace's first Christmas means a lot to me. So Eric threw a wrench in the whole operation because he couldn't say no to the church, and I didn't realize how much it meant to me that he didn't do it until now. He has the two weekends before Christmas pretty much filled up with rehearsals, performances, etc. Should make for a very lonely Christmas season.
Some highlights from my week:
Playing together so nice
Hannah singing the "Crocodile Song" from Peter Pan
Here's hoping the rest of the week goes better!
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