It's All Worth It

Being a parent is hard work. And sometimes not so much fun. Then there is stuff like this that makes it all worth it...

I've said it before and I'll say it again...

We are all in this together.

In between Handy Manny and HGTV's House Hunters, I do try and watch the news. I like to pretend that it keeps my brain from turning completely to goo.

And of course there is a lot going on in the news. You'd have to be living under the proverbial rock not to realize that our country is at a pivotal point in its history. As frightening as it is to watch it unfold, it's also kind of exciting.

I think I've said before that I am a registered Republican. With that being said I am not ashamed to say that both Drew and I voted for Obama in this past election. There were many reasons and most of them had nothing to do with our family personally. We felt like the good of the entire nation was at stake.

When I watch the news I can't help wishing that I had a time machine so that I could go back and possibly "fix" things. I would go back 25 years and teach everyone about proper credit card spending. Remember the days when you were offered 15 credit cards a day and they never once asked if you were employed or had any means of ever actually paying for any purchases? Oh yeah, good times. I'll never forget the girl I worked summers with that was so excited when she received her first card statement. She couldn't believe that she spend $400 but only had to pay $15!!!! Seriously, she didn't realize that she did eventually have to pay all of it (probably at 26% interest.) Anyway, I would go back and call out the banks that offered this ridiculous credit to those who had no business having it, and I would teach everyone about not abusing credit.

Then, I would go back to the time when good ole President Bush told everyone that homeownership was an attainable part of the American dream. There are so many people to blame for our country's current housing (and economic) crisis. President Bush. (I can find a way to blame him for just about everything if I think hard enough!) The banks who lent money to people who had no way to ever pay a mortgage. The real estate agents who convinced everyone that floating mortgages and ARMs where a smart decision, because then you could get yourself in to a $300,000 house instead of the $175,000 house you could really afford (and then they could rack in the extra fees!) The idiotic people in this country who bought the pile of crap that everyone was handing them. The list goes on and on...

I have a point and I'm getting to it now. A lot of private citizens, corporations, legislators, etc have screwed up in the last 20 years. Did Drew and I personally screw up? No. We have always used credit wisely. We live within our means. We took a mortgage we could afford and bought houses we could afford. So no, we are not personally responsible for the gigantic mess this country is in. One could argue then that we are then not responsible for helping to clean up the mess.

Unfortunately, if only people who made the messes were responsible for cleaning them up, what a garbage dump we'd all live in. Take our playroom for example. Do I make the mess? NO! Molly and Brody are the offenders. However if I counted on them to clean up their own toy mess everyday, I'm sure today you wouldn't be able to get in the door. Oh well, you might say. It's their playroom, let them play in their own filth. Yeah, that would work well except for the fact that I HAVE TO LIVE THERE TOO!

And it's the same with our country. If we want the US to be a nice, clean, friendly, CIVILIZED place to live, we need to all pitch in... even if we didn't make the mess. We are only as strong as the weakest of our citizens. And if 30-40% (or 50-60%) of our country's citizens are struggling, then what does that mean for the rest of us that aren't. It means we soon will be. If the houses in my neighborhood start going quickly into foreclosure, what does that mean for the health of my neighborhood? I want a nice place to raise my family and it's not going to be nice if half my neighbors have to leave their homes. When layoffs start coming in earnest, what does that mean for the places I like to patronize and the services I like to subscribe to. It means they will go away and things will get worse for everyone. Our quality of life in this country for all of us will reach new lows.

So I am optimistic about the plans Obama has for our country. Will they work? Who knows. Will there be people who will abuse the system and the help the government is offering. Hell yeah. There are always those people who leech off those who are trying to be helpful. But should that stop us from helping out those who are truly in need?

I want this country to be great again. I want to raise my children in a place where work is meaningful, their money is worth something and so is their integrity. If we allow half of our country to crumble, it's going to pull the other half with it and then nothing any of us have worked so hard for will be worth anything. I can't see letting that happen.

I'm going to end by saying something that will probably make me want to kick my own ass, but as a Christian I think we all also need to think about what Jesus would want us to do in these times. I think He would want us to look at our neighbors not with contempt for all the ways that they have messed up, but instead He would want us to start shilling out some good old fashion forgiveness. Everyone makes mistakes. High powered CEOs and elderly grandmothers. We need to forgive, teach new strategies, make new laws and help people get back on their own feet and stay there on their own, eventually without the government.

This is just my two cents friends. You can agree or disagree, and we can still be best buds, but I felt like I just needed to get this off my chest. Thanks for listening.

Dinner Conversation

Dad: I love Brody's smile.
Mom: I love his dimple. It's my favorite part.
Molly: I love his penis. It's my favorite part.

Sigh.

A Really Great Big Sister

I am a sister. A big sister. For a long time I was really horrible one. Some of that was my fault and some of it wasn't. I was 4 1/2 when Laura was born and I felt completely hoodwinked when my parents brought her home. I had visions of a friend, a playmate, someone to run around with and play games. Instead, what they brought me was this lump of a baby that cried and slept and took all the attention off of me. And thus the beatings began...

As I was growing up I always had visions of my own children and there were always three. Two girls and a boy, in that order. But of course God doesn't give a hoot about what your vision is and instead He gives you what He wants you to have, and He gave me Molly. After giving me a taste of motherhood (and by taste, I mean an all-you-can-eat late night buffet) I quickly rethought the idea of two children, let alone three.

For the first 18 months of Molly's life, I seriously did not want to have any more babies. But eventually, time heals all wounds (both literally and figuratively) and the idea of giving Molly "someone to play with" didn't sound like such a bad idea. But I also knew my tolerance for babies and two of them at the same time was something that I didn't think I could handle, so it wasn't until Molly was 3 1/2 that Brody became a part of our family. And overnight, Molly went from being my baby to being Brody's big sister.

I worry on a daily basis about the kind of big sister she is going to be. Although I know no matter what I do there will be times when she hates him and resents him and wants nothing more than to send him back from whence he came, I do still pray that they will be friends. I worry that they are too far apart in age. I worry that the fact that they are girl and boy will stand in their way from ever being super close. But then Molly, being Molly, makes me not worry quite so much.

She reads him stories (whether he's listening or not). She sets up his trains for him. She holds his hand so tenderly as we cross the parking lot. She shares her candy in the back seat of the car. She gets out a stroller for him whenever she gets out a stroller for herself. She encourages him to finish his breakfast so they can hurry up and go play. She runs around with him. She happily trades watching her show to let him watch yet another Baby Einstein. She helps him put on his shoes. She hugs him every day when he goes down for his nap and is genuinely happy to see him when he wakes back up. She combs his hair. She lets him sit with her at the computer watching YouTube videos of the Swedish Chef over and over and over. She helps him look for his lost dog lovey. She explains the rules. She is patient and kind and loving.

Sure, she tattles on him, gets angry when he pulls her hair, and enjoys time when she doesn't have to constantly share whatever she is playing with, but all and all, she is a fantastic big sister.

And so now I have new visions of my future. There is one that involves a big sister and a younger (albeit taller) brother dancing together at a wedding. I'm not sure which one's wedding it is, but they are dancing together and laughing and crying and I am standing to the side watching them knowing I did all I could to make sure that they were friends. I can only hope that God chooses to share this vision with me.

(Also, I want to add for the record that although my sister and I live 1000 miles apart and lead completely different lives, I am honored and blessed to say that she is a wonderful sister and my most cherished friend.)

Surely the Groundhog is Wrong

For the last two years we have had a pair of blue birds living in our blue bird house on our fence. They have raised lots of babies and we've been anxiously awaiting their return.

Yesterday I saw both the male and the female happily bathing in our birdbath! Hopefully spring won't be far behind!