Save Them From Such a Day

I thought that I would *try* to do a themed post every week, like some really cool bloggers do. I thought that, for my theme, I would do a "social responisibility moment" every monday.

Don't count on it yet, though-- we'll see how it goes. Sometimes the macaroni on the ceiling has priority over blogging.

This first item is a presentation that I put together for a class that I took years ago in college. The subject that I was given to present on was genocide, hatred, and violence.

This montage is what I came up with. There are some disturbing images, though I didn't use obviously graphic ones. As I was gathering the pictures for this, it hit home, really hard, for me, that all of us are God's children.

I hope you take a moment and think of this as well as you watch it.

Make photo slide shows at onetruemedia.com

Happy V Day

Happy Valentine's day, everyone.

I am learning to like valentines day.

That having been said, I still absolutely love to visit Cap'nwacky's gallery of unfortunate Valentine cards, just in memory of my jaded singleness of long past.

Also, it's freakin' hilarious. Here's my favorite. Enjoy.

I got this email today--

From my mother-in-law, about the new HPV vaccine and the attempt by drug companies to get it mandated in various lawmaking bodies throughout the USA.

I'm so totally against mandated vaccines. I mean, I think vaccines help some people. I think that, if there is an epidemic sweeping our nation, vaccines might be good. But there are soooo many reasons why it pays to examine the pros and cons of vaccination, and to not just take what drug companies (or even the FDA) says as gospel truth.

Especially for small children, or in developing children, these decisions have potentially ong lasting effects, possibly adverse ones, and so I want to be able to decide (prayerfully, after much research) whether or not my child receives a certain vaccine.

This mandate is just wrong. I am so glad that it got defeated in Committee in Utah.

There may be some girls who would benefit from this vaccine. This virus, HPV, has been correlated with 70% of cervical cancers. It is a sexually-transmitted virus, and becuase so many girls are sexually active at continually younger ages, it may prove a benefit. But why mandate the vaccine? Why not mandate a yearly pap smear, which has been shown to be extremely effective in the diagnosis of these cancers at an early enough stage.


As the side effects have not been properly studied (when do we learn), I would hesitate, though-- even if my daughter were fully active at a young age (which I hope won't be the case).

I hope I still have the power to hesitate. These things should never belong in the hands of government. Lobbying should never affect my own ability/capability of parenting my child, of making decisions that could potentially harm them permanently.

I don't think that makes me ignorant, or nutty, or even strangely militant. I think that more and more parents are becoming cautious about vaccines, and, well...

this is a good thing.

Off she goes--

My little sis just went to the MTC this past wednesday.

It was odd.

I felt happy, nervous, and a little jealous, which I definitely wasn't expecting. I mean, I have my own things that have helped me to grow, and gosh, they've made me grow up fast. And in some ways, I'm left a little immature-- my maturation process has been spotty.

But see-- there's the major evidence of my immaturity. I am SO SELF CENTERED sometimes. I just realized this the other day. I'm always in my head, always thinking about how things affect me, possibly extending this to my children and my spouse, instead of focusing on the world around me.

But no more.

Cait, you're an inpsiration to me. Love.

Ethiopian Adoption 5

So, I haven't blogged about our Ethiopian Endeavor lately--

mostly because I think I have this tendency to not journal/blog/write about things that stress me out a little.

But now I feel like I'm at another standing point-- we've taken care of a great deal of things on our list.
Namely, #'s 1-7, half of #9 (my half, Skywalker's swamped with work right now, but he says he'll try to get to it this Sunday,) 10-12, We've asked people to do #13 already and it goes with the homestudy, and #15.

So left to do is: Collect the references, get the homestudy done (we applied for it and paid for it today), finish and send bios, recieve and fill out a power of attorney form, two immigration forms, and lastly, the first half of the adoption fees (3,750) before we get put on an eighteen-to-twenty-four month waiting list.

It will feel good, to finally be on the waiting list. But we've still got a little bit to go.

My baby has thrill issues

Dude.


Everyone knows that the vacuum and small children don't mix very well. Even my little five year old will run and sit on the couch when I vacuum, because that way it won't eat her. The couch is the safe haven. The couch is off-limits to the terrifying beast that somehow drags Mom along by her arm and makes her do menial house chores when she'd obviously rather be playing blocks or reading Dr. Seuss. So the couch is where one should go, as soon as mom lugs it into the living room. Right?

Not according to Jaws.

What Jaws does, when mom brings out the vacuum:

Crawl slowly toward it. Reach out a tentative finger and touch the top of it. When mom plugs it in, quickly scuttle backward a few paces and wait for it to begin it's roaring path across the floor. Consider it curiously for a moment or two and then sit up, whimper and stare at mom with an imploring expression.

So then, I put her on the couch with Loli. Here's what Jaws does next:

Immediately, she scoots off the couch and makes a fast track for the vacuum. Jaws stops within a few paces, ponders for a moment, and then her face twists into an expression of pure terror. She howls, and mom picks her up. Jaws' whole body is shaking, and she looks down at the vacuum. She giggles.

I'm kind of scared to see how this develops as she gets older and the vacuum loses its thrill factor.

All I have to say is, I'm not going bunjee jumping, I hate roller coasters and skydiving is out of the question. I'm content to keep my hobbies non life-threatening.

She's gonna have to go with her dad.

Let's start 'em mudslinging when they're young