Last night he read the whole book...

Yes, Thomas read 90% of a book called "Turtle and Snake Go To Work." He read it out loud to both X and I and I have to say, the boy can READ! Third month of kindergarten and this is what he amazes me with... he can read, he knows all of the states west of the Mississippi River by name, he can tell the difference between Joe Biden and John McCain, and he knows why we vote the way we do. He dresses himself, but all of a sudden in the past week most of his pants have gotten short and his t-shirts too small. He brushes his teeth, he tries hard to follow directions, and he is boundless in his energy. He loves us unconditionally and he tells us all the time "Mom, no matter what, I ALWAYS love you, even if you are mad." Such the boy I tell you. I don't know many adults who know all the states! He even knows that Canada is north of us AND he knows which way north IS!

Section 60

"he was the first to buried there three years ago... now five more rows stretch beyond him." This was on the Today show, talking about Arlington National Cemetery and Veteran's Day. His first name was Nicholas and he was born around when I graduated from high school. It was sad, to see all those moms out there mourning their sons. I am so sorry for their losses. I appreciate what their sons did. I am really anti-war, and I have been against this whole middle east thing for as long as it has been going on. I am naive to think we could just ignore any of it, but I feel like there should be a better way. Someday I will take my kids to Arlington, to see the National Cemetery. They said 1800 men were the first buried there, after the Civil War, in one mass grave, in the rose garden.

Thank you veterans, and even though I am a card carrying liberal, and what most of you would call bleeding heart, I appreciate your service and I am grateful to you for keeping our country safe.

Too good to pass up...

Sometimes I think I must not have anything better to do, and then I remind myself that sometimes I don’t.

This started with an email from someone I used to be fairly friendly with, and would still be, but she seems to be pretty unavailable. She has a daughter the same age as Glee and a son a year younger than Thomas. She is born again, and that was okay by me, but she included me on this list of people to whom they passed a lot of the misinformation about President-Elect Obama (man, that feels GOOD to say!).

Some people just aren’t all they claim to be are they? I wonder if this is why I have such an aversion to churches (other than thinking they are pretty, admiring the architecture, and then heading to their graveyards!).

So, I let one go, and then I got this one... read from the bottom up from here on... of course the names have been changed to protect the guilty (again).

From: Jill
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 5:03 PM
To: unnameabledude@yahoo
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

No, you didn’t really. Because I did not say what I believe in, other than the FACT that I said I am not a Christian, and the FACT that I don’t believe John McCain would be the right person to lead our country. The rest of it was ASSUMPTION on your part. You don’t know who I voted for, or why, because YOU DON’T KNOW ME. I may be farther right than you, I just don’t believe in spreading lies about someone, and that is what this email has been doing.

Let he without sin, well, I am assuming (and I shouldn’t because I don’t know you and I don’t know how well you know your own book) you know the rest.

That being said, I hope someday to actually meet you so you can see that my horns don’t show in public and that I am not carrying around a fetus in a jar and proclaiming everyone should have one. Not everyone is as you think they are.

From: unnameabledude@yahoo
Sent: Wednesday, November 05, 2008 3:16 PM
To: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

Hey, I didn't cast judgment on you, all I mentioned was what YOU said about yourself. The only assumption I made is that you aren't a liar about yourself.

Look, I just thought it was pretty funny that you decided to tell a bunch of people you don't know about your beliefs, which is exactly what you were complaining about. All you needed to say was "please take me off this distribution list". However, with that said, I truly am sorry for making fun of you. Right after I sent it I regretted it.

--- On Tue, 11/4/08, Jill wrote:
From: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going
To: unnameabledude@yahoo
Date: Tuesday, November 4, 2008, 4:02 PM

Some Christian you are… you don’t even know me. You might want to read your good book before you cast judgment. I have my stones collected but I don’t use them except for self defense.

From: unnameabledude@yahoo
Sent: Tuesday, November 04, 2008 2:39 PM
To: HUGE List of so-called Christians
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going

Please remove me from this distribution list if you do not remove Jill from this list, as I am diametrically opposed to being on a distribution list with anyone who thinks partial-birth abortions is a "right" and who is so ill-informed as to think that Obamanomics is the better choice for America.
Thank you.


--- On Mon, 11/3/08, Jill wrote:
From: Jill
Subject: RE: FW: FW: Keep this going
To: HUGE List of so-called Christians
Date: Monday, November 3, 2008, 7:36 AM

Please remove me from this list before you forward it anymore. I am not Christian, I do not believe McCain is the best choice for president and I am diametrically opposed to the information being spread in these emails.
Thank you.

Jill Nowak

-----Original Message-----
From: Joe the Christian
Sent: Monday, November 03, 2008 12:09 AM
To: HUGE list is Christians
Subject: Re: FW: FW: Keep this going

Dear Crosstrainers and Friends,

Please forward the following information to our fellow brothers and sisters
in Christ who may not know of Barrack Obama's position on abortion.

As Christians, our FIRST priority is to vote the Bible, which means that THE
most important issue in choosing the right candidate is the one who is PRO-LIFE, NOT Pro-Choice. Clearly, if you watched both candidates during Rick Warrren's interviews at Saddleback Church, you would know who that is, not to mention their records.

While in the Illinois Senate, Obama repeatedly blocked a bill that would protect the lives of "born-alive infants" who survive abortions. Now, he is trying to run and
hide from his radical record.

Barack Obama is THE MOST radical pro-abortion presidential candidate in history. Not only does he oppose protecting babies who survive a failed abortion, he has pledged to sign the Freedom of Choice Act as his first item of business if elected president. Obama opposes the ban on partial-birth abortion and said the issue of when life begins was too difficult for him to answer - "above my pay grade." This was the statement he made at Saddleback Church.

John McCain's answer, however, was direct and without reservation - "at
conception"!

And we won't even get into the harm Obama would cause our country in his socialistic tax policy for "spreading the wealth", pulling our troops out of Irag prematurely, and weakening our strength in the world with his naive and reckless plans to meet with other socialistic/communist leaders of countries that hate America.

May God's hand be seen in the election of John McCain and Sarah Palin and may He be glorified for it!

God Bless our country and our voting efforts.

Homer and Marge

Halloween and all in between

So, Halloween was a hit. Glee was so excited, and so many people at school said they didn't recognize her! That is the sign of a real costume. Be something you aren't! Thomas had a great time showing off his tracker made out of electrical tape, a box and foil. He was so proud to have a pen "just like dad uses." X brought one home JUST for him, and it was an important part of his costume, along with his cellphone. And he carried a FedEx box with a hole in it for collecting his candy. It was an awesome costume.



We passed out candy until it was gone, and we even went through the kids bags and took out the candy we didn't want them to have (that laffy taffy is the stuff of the devil, and lollipops all had to go). Some friends came over and the kids played in the dark, which was fun for them, with flashlights, and we played hide and seek and I jumped out and scared them a few times. It was fun. One of our friends, a boy with the same name as our boy, came dressed as a UPS man. I loved it.

Now today, I am waiting for about an hour to go vote. To make Obama our next president. To get over the election and move ahead to fix the economy and make the rest of the world realize we aren't bullies. I will be glad to not see any more election materials, and to not see anyone talking smack about anyone else on tv, at least for a little while.

I am glad people are voting and trying to use their rights as an American to speak their minds. Go, VOTE.

Anniversary

Yesterday was the third anniversary of my dear friend and mother in law's stroke. That day X called me at my morning women in business meeting and told me something was wrong with his mom. My meeting was close to her house, so I went to get her. She was completely discombobulated. She hadn't slept in her bed, the phone book was open to moving companies and she said she was trying to call us. She was completely out of it. She'd had a stroke. She wanted to go to the Air Force Base for a doctor, but luckily they were closed because they would have sent us up to the VA in Westwood. I took her to an Urgent Care, who said to take her to the hospital. I took her to the hospital I was born at. In the ER they started tests, and she was admitted about 6 hours later. They did some therapy, she came home with us a couple of weeks later. She lived with us for a week, and then she was having small strokes. So she went back to the hospital. She was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer, and she died in January, 10 days shy of her 65th birthday. I miss her terribly. Sometimes I can still hear her voice, but it is getting more and more faint. Like she doesn't think we need her anymore. Maybe, hopefully, she has more important things to do now than hang around us and watch.

After she died I felt a grief like I had never felt in my life. She was one of my best friends. I shared everything with her. She ate at our house and drank coffee with me in the morning, even though she didn't like flavored coffee. Jessica remembers watching golf and tennis on tv with her. She remembers going with her to the mall to visit Grandma's friends. Owen doesn't remember her. He was only two. I am sad about that. Although, he does have a lot of memories of her AFTER she passed. Like when she helped Jessica find her bracelet in the backyard. He often asks out loud to Grandma for help finding things. We still say we are thankful for her when we say our dinner thank you's.

A lot of people remember the day people died. I remember the day I was called in to service, and if I could I would happily do it for her again. I am sure she knew how much I loved her and she is in a place now that is only better because she is not sick. If she could be here with us I know she would.