I know this may not be the most positive and uplifting of titles, but I’m feeling a little (extra) passive-aggressive this morning, so it was appropriate to my mood!
1) The term “unable to have their OWN children, so they adopted”. I was watching a news story the other day and the reporter used this exact phrase. I was so riled up! Adopted children ARE the parent’s own! And why is adoption always presented as a second choice? I realize that most couples who adopt have some fertility issues, but presenting adoption as though it’s second best isn’t fair. If we end up adopting, that child will be just as much our own as Ellie is. No questions asked.
2) -50 windchill. Seriously. Why, oh why, did my ancestors settle here? Life would have been so much easier if Great Grandma and Grandpa decided to build their new North American life in Dallas, where it’s 70 degrees out today.
3) My teef. They are so sensitive and I’m quite annoyed by the fact that I have to SUCK on this mint, when all I want to do is chomp down on it! I know it will hurt my teeth to bite it, though, so I will continue sucking (um…)…
4) My gray hair. Good Lord, I don’t even WANT to know how gray I’d be if I’d stop coloring my curly locks. ‘Course, now that the gray is overgrowing, I have to color my hair once every six weeks. I hate coloring my hair. It stinks. It stains things. It’s time consuming. And, if I go to the salon, it’s crazily expensive. Plus, it reminds me that I’m getting older. Blah.
5) One more football game left this year. For true, y’all. I actually get REALLY sad when I think about six more months until a new football season begins. I can’t tell you how much I love that stinkin’ game. Last Sunday, I had to metaschlope (Sunday-afternoon nap) while watching CURLING in the afternoon. Sooo not the same as watching the Boys.
6) How stressed I am about Ellie’s potty training. Or, more accurately, lack thereof. The other day I had her naked for about five minutes on the floor, while I got her bath ready. She totally peed on the floor, and didn’t think anything of it. I wasn’t mad at her, but it made me frustrated and sad. I don’t think she has the bladder control to hold it for even five minutes. And there doesn’t seem to be any sort of concept of understanding the “urge” to go. I am so scared that she will enter kindergarten in diapers. Perhaps it’s wrong for me to voice this concern, and I most certainly don’t want to embarrass Ellie, but this is a HUGE concern of mine. I also realize that kindergarten is 2.5 years away, and a lot could happen between now and then. Which leads me to point number 7…
7) How pessimistic I can sometimes be. I used to be a lot more optimistic when I thought about the future. Perhaps adulthood and “living in the real world” has hardened me and slightly changed my outlook. I find myself especially pessimistic (or, is it realistic?) when I think about Ellie’s future physical abilities. I feel like I need to prepare myself for the wheelchair, just in case it DOES happen. Yet, I know in my heart that she is doing so well and could easily be walking (even if helped by a walker or canes) into Southwood School in September of 2010. So, why do I feel the need to guard my heart and expect less?
8) Texting. I think I’m secretly jealous of wicked dexterity and ability to shoot out these text messages in crazily abbreviated language. Have you seen these kids text? It’s so annoying because they do it so fast and so well. Grrr…
9) and 10) The inability to think of two more things for my list.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Sunday, January 20, 2008
Being Two
Don't tell me my daughter isn't a "typical" 2-year-old!
I've heard that one of the benefits to parenting a special needs child is that nothing goes uncelebrated, and behavior that would normally frustrate a parent, is, for us, cause for rejoicing. A benefit? I'm not sure I'd go *that* far, but I will easily admit that the little things DO mean so much more in our house. My heart smiles every time I have to clean up a mess that Ellie's made, because it means she MOVED HERSELF to the scene of the crime, opened a door (or, in this case, toilet seat), and saw life through the eyes of a toddler. What could be greater than that?
So, we'll be keeping our toilet extra-clean, hiding the bathroom garbage can, and ALWAYS looking inside the bowl before we use it, or heaven forbid, flush!
Friday, January 18, 2008
You Know You Are!
All of my esteemed American friends and readers (especially those in Big D and 'Bama), just admit it: you are SO jealous of me right now! You don't even know what you're missing with MINUS 49 DEGREE windchill! I see your face turning green with envy this very second (or wait! Was that MY face turning black from frost bite??). Bwa ha ha!!
Monday, January 14, 2008
Ta da!
Ellie surprised us last night by showing off her sitting skills! Out of the blue, the girl can get from lying down on the floor into sitting position ALL BY HER SWEET SELF!!! Oh yeah, that's MY baby!
Saturday, January 12, 2008
80 Days Around The World
I've been trip-dreaming. I do that alot. Especially in winter, after Christmas, when the thought of FOUR MORE MONTHS of frostbite-inducing weather looms heavy 'round my psyche.
This summer, we're planning on zipping our way over to West Virginia. Richard is originally from there, and he has two Grandpa's, and a couple of Aunts who still live in Wild and Wonderful WV. Richard's parents and brother will meet us there, and we will have a grand ol' family reunion. I've never been to that part of the country, so I'm pretty pumped.
We had talked about tacking on a few days of sightseeing in either Washington or NYC, just the three of us, before hanging with the fam in West Virginia. Richard and I started dreaming about all the cool things we could do in either of those cities....
...and then it kinda hit us both.
How would it work to get Ellie in and out of the subway? Do they have elevators to get back up to street level? Are all the museums handicap accessible? What about riding a bus? Richard's been to the Statue of Liberty, and remembers clearly the daunting sets of stairs. Our hotel would have to be wheelchair/stroller accessible. Hi yi yi.
This is where it begins. We will never travel like we used to. Family vacations will take on an entirely new set of planning and preparation. I guarantee you that we will bypass certain activities because they are just too physically demanding or inaccessible. And it SUCKS. Seriously sucks.
What sucks most is that Ellie's entire life will be like this. She will never take an impromptu trip without hard-core planning in advance. She will have to research every event, every activity, every mode of transportation, every hotel. And that's just not fair!
I guess I'm just bummed with the realization. We will still travel, and we will make fantastic memories with Ellie. And we will make our holidays as stress-free and easy as possible on our sweet girl. And, God help me, I will NEVER say, "Oh, I wish we could do this-and-this, but it'd be too hard on Ellie..." Until she's old enough to know better, I want Ellie to believe that she can go where everyone else goes.
It just shouldn't be this complicated, that's all.
This summer, we're planning on zipping our way over to West Virginia. Richard is originally from there, and he has two Grandpa's, and a couple of Aunts who still live in Wild and Wonderful WV. Richard's parents and brother will meet us there, and we will have a grand ol' family reunion. I've never been to that part of the country, so I'm pretty pumped.
We had talked about tacking on a few days of sightseeing in either Washington or NYC, just the three of us, before hanging with the fam in West Virginia. Richard and I started dreaming about all the cool things we could do in either of those cities....
...and then it kinda hit us both.
How would it work to get Ellie in and out of the subway? Do they have elevators to get back up to street level? Are all the museums handicap accessible? What about riding a bus? Richard's been to the Statue of Liberty, and remembers clearly the daunting sets of stairs. Our hotel would have to be wheelchair/stroller accessible. Hi yi yi.
This is where it begins. We will never travel like we used to. Family vacations will take on an entirely new set of planning and preparation. I guarantee you that we will bypass certain activities because they are just too physically demanding or inaccessible. And it SUCKS. Seriously sucks.
What sucks most is that Ellie's entire life will be like this. She will never take an impromptu trip without hard-core planning in advance. She will have to research every event, every activity, every mode of transportation, every hotel. And that's just not fair!
I guess I'm just bummed with the realization. We will still travel, and we will make fantastic memories with Ellie. And we will make our holidays as stress-free and easy as possible on our sweet girl. And, God help me, I will NEVER say, "Oh, I wish we could do this-and-this, but it'd be too hard on Ellie..." Until she's old enough to know better, I want Ellie to believe that she can go where everyone else goes.
It just shouldn't be this complicated, that's all.
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
Walking In A Winter Wonderland...
It was FINALLY nice out the other day (when did "nice" equal 30 degrees F?!), so we tromped our way through the field in our backyard. It was fabulous!
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid
As some of you faithful readers will recall, a few weeks back, I blogged about a then relatively unknown Republican presidential candidate named Mike Huckabee. Although the post consisted primarly of immigration banter, I did quote Mr. Huckabee and left him basking in a somewhat positive light.
I have to admit that at the time of that post, I knew very little about the Arkansas-governor-turned-wannabe-president. Given the outcome of the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, and Mr. Huckabee's impressive Republican victory, I figured it would be a good idea to do some more research on the Razorback.
OH MY WORD.
I know that one of my goals for 2008 was to be less anxious and fearful, but, seriously, the thought of this man sitting in power at the White House is terrifying. Truthfully, I'd rather see Dubya serve another term than hear the words "President Huckabee".
Of course, I am going to disagree with Mr. Huckabee's politics on many fronts simply because I lean more towards the left. Granted, his stance against dual citizenship is appauling to me (our family is so "CanAm" that I can't even imagine any one of us having to "choose" one country over the other), his belief in the justification and continuation of the war in Iraq (and the way he uses the phrase "I am focused on WINNING" (from his website) when describing his stance on the war---is killing people winning????) is terrifying to me, his promise to INCREASE defense spending while implementing hee-oooj tax cuts is outrageous (say bye-bye to social services) to me, but, deep down, I realize that these are ideologies and a VERY VERY small part of me can see both sides to many of these issues.
But, and I mean BIG BIG BIG but...
These two issues are absolute red flag, OH MY WORD, this-is-really-scary-to-me types:
1) Posted proudly on his website, Mr. Huckabee touts, "I was the first Governor in the country to have a concealed handgun license." PROUDLY, people! I cannot, simply CANNOT rationalize this way of thinking. How on earth does it benefit society to have MORE people carrying concealed weapons around? I just can't help but think of Ellie. My sweet innocent Ellie, who could be driving in the car with me, happily talking to Cinderella on her new cell phone, on the road with people who possess GUNS in their glove boxes. GUNS! Concealed handguns!! What happens if one of these people snaps? Or if they miss their intended target? Or if my sweet baby girl is over at their house, and she happens to find their concealed "toy"? I think about what I'd tell her if she asked me why some people have handguns in their house. "Well, honey, so-and-so believes that the solution to the 'bad people' having guns, is making sure that all the 'good people' also have guns. That way, hopefully the 'good people' will shoot all the 'bad people' and the world will go back to being perfect."
2) And this one is THE kicker. Even more terrifying than concealed weapons. These are words that have come from the mouth of Mr. Huckabee, who, remember, wants to be the President of the United States:
"I fear we will turn and hit the snooze button one more time and lose this great republic of ours.... I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."
(From CNN, who I consider to be a credible source.)
Oh, friends. And, ESPECIALLY, American friends who have the power to vote. Think about what that statement means. Think about what it means to you as Christians. Think about what it means to the reputation of the United States in the global community.
First of all, to "take this nation back for Christ" means that there was a time when the US was "for Christ". A time when the United States was a Christian nation. I turn to one of my favorite authors, Gregory Boyd, pastor of an evangelical Christian church in St. Paul, Minnesota, to help make my point:
"Were these God-glorifying years before, during, or after Europeans ‘discovered’ America and carried out the doctrine of ‘manifest destiny’—the belief that God had destined white Christians to conquer the native inhabitants and steal their land? Were the God-glorifying years the ones in which whites massacred these natives by the millions, broke just about every covenant they ever made with them, and then forced survivors onto isolated reservations? Was the golden age before, during, or after white Christians loaded five to six million Africans onto cargo ships to bring them to their newfound country, enslaving the three million or so who actually survived the brutal trip? Was it during the two centuries when Americans acquired remarkable wealth by the sweat and blood of their slaves? Was this the time when we were truly ‘one nation under God,’ the blessed time that so many evangelicals seem to want to take our nation back to?"
The Myth of a Christian Nation, page 98-99. (A fabulous read, by the way!)
The United States is no more 'Christian' than Canada or Iraq or Ethiopia. God doesn't love Americans, most notably, American Christians, any more than Iranian Muslims or Indian Hindus. The United States has never been God's Kingdom. Jesus is no more present in America than in Greenland.
As a Christian, Huckabee's words are disturbing to my faith, to my security, and to my government. If this country is supposed to be Christ-like, then no wonder there are so many people in the world who want to annihilate Americans. There are so many UN-Christ-like things happening in this country and by our countrymen. I don't want my faith to be associated with them. I don't want people thinking that since America is a Christian nation, then abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib, leaving homeless African Americans to die on the streets of flooded New Orleans to die, or distributing child porn over the internet is Jesus-like. I don't want American politics to internationally define my faith.
There's nothing Christ-like about the politics of the United States....OR ANY OTHER NATION. Jesus wasn't about politics.
"Jesus refused to accept conventional wisdom…His model of kingship, and his vision of the kingdom of God, was not to ‘make the world safe for democracy’ by the exercise of sheer force, was not to effect a ‘balance of power’ through the threat of nuclear holocaust, was not to ‘rid the world of evil’ through a never-ending crusade of ‘war against terror’. He would not rule by sword, but by a towel."
Lee Camp
Mike Huckabee is not Jesus. And it scares the crap outta me to think that he wants to bring my precious Savior into politics like that; that he wants to represent Jesus to the rest of the world. Because, after all, if he wants to bring this nation "back to Christ", then he's gotta be the most Christ-like of all of us. And, last time I checked, Jesus didn't have a concealed handgun tucked away in his shepherd's staff.
Just PLEASE think about what this could mean for America. I just hope that if enough of you are afraid, the vote will be influenced and a president who believes in a healthy separation of church and state will prevail. And that we will be judged by our individual actions as followers of Jesus. Because it's CHRYSTIE who's the Christian, not America.
I have to admit that at the time of that post, I knew very little about the Arkansas-governor-turned-wannabe-president. Given the outcome of the Iowa caucuses on Tuesday, and Mr. Huckabee's impressive Republican victory, I figured it would be a good idea to do some more research on the Razorback.
OH MY WORD.
I know that one of my goals for 2008 was to be less anxious and fearful, but, seriously, the thought of this man sitting in power at the White House is terrifying. Truthfully, I'd rather see Dubya serve another term than hear the words "President Huckabee".
Of course, I am going to disagree with Mr. Huckabee's politics on many fronts simply because I lean more towards the left. Granted, his stance against dual citizenship is appauling to me (our family is so "CanAm" that I can't even imagine any one of us having to "choose" one country over the other), his belief in the justification and continuation of the war in Iraq (and the way he uses the phrase "I am focused on WINNING" (from his website) when describing his stance on the war---is killing people winning????) is terrifying to me, his promise to INCREASE defense spending while implementing hee-oooj tax cuts is outrageous (say bye-bye to social services) to me, but, deep down, I realize that these are ideologies and a VERY VERY small part of me can see both sides to many of these issues.
But, and I mean BIG BIG BIG but...
These two issues are absolute red flag, OH MY WORD, this-is-really-scary-to-me types:
1) Posted proudly on his website, Mr. Huckabee touts, "I was the first Governor in the country to have a concealed handgun license." PROUDLY, people! I cannot, simply CANNOT rationalize this way of thinking. How on earth does it benefit society to have MORE people carrying concealed weapons around? I just can't help but think of Ellie. My sweet innocent Ellie, who could be driving in the car with me, happily talking to Cinderella on her new cell phone, on the road with people who possess GUNS in their glove boxes. GUNS! Concealed handguns!! What happens if one of these people snaps? Or if they miss their intended target? Or if my sweet baby girl is over at their house, and she happens to find their concealed "toy"? I think about what I'd tell her if she asked me why some people have handguns in their house. "Well, honey, so-and-so believes that the solution to the 'bad people' having guns, is making sure that all the 'good people' also have guns. That way, hopefully the 'good people' will shoot all the 'bad people' and the world will go back to being perfect."
2) And this one is THE kicker. Even more terrifying than concealed weapons. These are words that have come from the mouth of Mr. Huckabee, who, remember, wants to be the President of the United States:
"I fear we will turn and hit the snooze button one more time and lose this great republic of ours.... I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ."
(From CNN, who I consider to be a credible source.)
Oh, friends. And, ESPECIALLY, American friends who have the power to vote. Think about what that statement means. Think about what it means to you as Christians. Think about what it means to the reputation of the United States in the global community.
First of all, to "take this nation back for Christ" means that there was a time when the US was "for Christ". A time when the United States was a Christian nation. I turn to one of my favorite authors, Gregory Boyd, pastor of an evangelical Christian church in St. Paul, Minnesota, to help make my point:
"Were these God-glorifying years before, during, or after Europeans ‘discovered’ America and carried out the doctrine of ‘manifest destiny’—the belief that God had destined white Christians to conquer the native inhabitants and steal their land? Were the God-glorifying years the ones in which whites massacred these natives by the millions, broke just about every covenant they ever made with them, and then forced survivors onto isolated reservations? Was the golden age before, during, or after white Christians loaded five to six million Africans onto cargo ships to bring them to their newfound country, enslaving the three million or so who actually survived the brutal trip? Was it during the two centuries when Americans acquired remarkable wealth by the sweat and blood of their slaves? Was this the time when we were truly ‘one nation under God,’ the blessed time that so many evangelicals seem to want to take our nation back to?"
The Myth of a Christian Nation, page 98-99. (A fabulous read, by the way!)
The United States is no more 'Christian' than Canada or Iraq or Ethiopia. God doesn't love Americans, most notably, American Christians, any more than Iranian Muslims or Indian Hindus. The United States has never been God's Kingdom. Jesus is no more present in America than in Greenland.
As a Christian, Huckabee's words are disturbing to my faith, to my security, and to my government. If this country is supposed to be Christ-like, then no wonder there are so many people in the world who want to annihilate Americans. There are so many UN-Christ-like things happening in this country and by our countrymen. I don't want my faith to be associated with them. I don't want people thinking that since America is a Christian nation, then abusing prisoners in Abu Ghraib, leaving homeless African Americans to die on the streets of flooded New Orleans to die, or distributing child porn over the internet is Jesus-like. I don't want American politics to internationally define my faith.
There's nothing Christ-like about the politics of the United States....OR ANY OTHER NATION. Jesus wasn't about politics.
"Jesus refused to accept conventional wisdom…His model of kingship, and his vision of the kingdom of God, was not to ‘make the world safe for democracy’ by the exercise of sheer force, was not to effect a ‘balance of power’ through the threat of nuclear holocaust, was not to ‘rid the world of evil’ through a never-ending crusade of ‘war against terror’. He would not rule by sword, but by a towel."
Lee Camp
Mike Huckabee is not Jesus. And it scares the crap outta me to think that he wants to bring my precious Savior into politics like that; that he wants to represent Jesus to the rest of the world. Because, after all, if he wants to bring this nation "back to Christ", then he's gotta be the most Christ-like of all of us. And, last time I checked, Jesus didn't have a concealed handgun tucked away in his shepherd's staff.
Just PLEASE think about what this could mean for America. I just hope that if enough of you are afraid, the vote will be influenced and a president who believes in a healthy separation of church and state will prevail. And that we will be judged by our individual actions as followers of Jesus. Because it's CHRYSTIE who's the Christian, not America.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Happy Birthday To Me!
Thank you, sweet Chrystie, for giving me life, keeping me relatively purty (although Richard needs a kiss for that one), and only somewhat dusty. And thank you, sweet admirers, for your frequent visits, bringing a mahvelous array of verbal candy with you. Thanks to Dr. Blogger and specialist Bill Gates, for keeping me healthy and virus-free this year. Here's to me!
Love,
Chrystie's Blog
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