Thanks a lot, Gretchen...

So I've tried to be purposeful about teaching Evie to be polite. I am always telling her that it will get her far in life :). And thus far, she's done me proud. She almost always remembers to say "please" and "thank you", and often remembers to say "yes, ma'am" or "yes sir" (although, like her pronunciation of Asher [see a previous post]), "yes, sir" sounds remarkably similar to "a**hole". Just sayin'.)

This weekend we were on the OBX visiting my family. We went out to lunch yesterday and Abbie, my three year old niece, began getting squirmy and antsy. So Gretchen (her mom) corrected her with a firm, "Sit DOWN!"... And then proceeded to encourage Evie to similarly instruct Abbie. You know where this is going... All afternoon, and several times during the (long) trip home, Evie beetled her little brow, screwed up her little mouth, and screeched, "Sit DOWN!!" I'm trying to rectify the situation by re-instructing her to say, "Won't you have a seat, please?" but so far, it's a no-go. It might be payback for me trying to teach Gretchen's kids to curse when they were small.

In other cute Evie news, she is loving the Donut Man lately. He kinda makes me want to shove an ice pick through my brain, but Evie likes him, so we listen. Her favorite song is "Obey". The chorus goes, "O-B-E-Y! Obey your mom and dad! O-B-E-Y! Makes them very glad!" So Evie has been walking around the house lately singing with all her might-- "OOOOO BBBBBB DAD!!!" I guess mom doesn't make the cut.

Man, I love that kid.

A Savior on Capitol Hill?

If you needed further proof that I am *not* crunchy, here it is: I am a conservative. :) Well, technically I am unaffiliated with any party, but I lean more toward conservative ideologies. And while I'm certainly not skipping church to watch "Meet the Press" every Sunday, I am interested in political issues and figures and ideas. But here's the thing-- I don't really enjoy discussing politics; partly because it's a massively divisive topic... but mostly because most people know WAY more about it than me... which means that I leave the conversation without that nice little air of superior knowledge and awareness that is so very appealing to me.

But this is my blog. So division and ignorance aside, I feel I should be able to share my (perhaps uninformed) thoughts on the upcoming presidential election. In watching recent debates, I can absolutely understand why Barack Obama has such a magnetic pull for so many people. He is charismatic, well-spoken, intelligent, and not entirely horrible-looking. I *want* to like him. I want to believe that he can really produce the "change we need" in America. But what kind of change, exactly?


The other night, I was flipping through the pages of my Parents magazine. There was an article interviewing Barack and Michelle Obama and Cindy McCain (John must have been off consorting with Joe the Plumber or some other Average Joe Six-Pack :) ), and the question of faith and church attendance came up. Although the Obamas admitted that they are not attending church/Sunday school services regularly (I'm sure Jeremiah Wright is missing their tithes), Barack said they teach their children "about values and faith and religion in the context of family life." Michelle even added that they end their meal-time prayers with a toast and a family exclamation of "Cheerios!" (Evangelicals everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief-- the Obama children are being taught the Gospel...)

But you know, whatever... to each his own, right? But then I stumbled across this article: "Obama's Abortion Extremism", by Robert George. I always knew that Obama was pro-choice, didn't know the extent of what that meant. His voting record is staggering and sobering. Here are just a few of the things the article mentions:

--Obama supports legislation that would repeal the Hyde Amendment, which protects pro-life citizens from having to pay for medically unnecessary abortions.
--One of his top priorities as President would be to sign the Freedom of Choice Act. This would create a a federally guaranteed right to abortion throughout all nine months of pregnancy, and would virtually eliminate all the "red-tape" of legal abortions (parental consent, notification laws for minors, etc.)
--He opposes the ban on partial birth abortions; he even wants to strip federal funding from pro-life crisis pregnancy centers which offer alternatives to abortion.
--Obama opposes legislation that would protect children who are born alive, either as the result of a botched abortion or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability.
--He co-sponsored a bill that would authorize the large-scale industrial production of human embryos for use in biomedical research in which they would be killed.

There's much more; I encourage you to read the article for yourself. Disagree all that you want (remember, I said politics is divisive! :) but I just have a hard time understanding how a believer can stand behind a man who shows so little concern for "the least of these". I have been warned before not to err by "one issue voting". But come on-- I'm not talking about the economy here, folks. I'm not talking about global warming, or even how to defend our country against terrorism. I'm talking about children who are formed in the image of their Creator. This is a big deal. This is a really big deal.

I close with this quote, given in Obama's World AIDS Day speech... perhaps out of context, but interesting nonetheless...

"We should never forget that God granted us the power to reason so that we would do His work here on earth-- so that we would use science to cure disease, and heal the sick, and save lives." (emphasis mine)

Yes, we should never forget that.

There's a light at the end of the tunnel...

Literally.






Chris is definitely the "fun" dad. He and Evie sneak around and have Rita's together, work in the shop, rough-house, and he's already teaching her about potty-humor... so that's great. It makes my heart smile when I hear Evie belly-laughing with her dad; she's pretty crazy about him. (So is her mom. :)

This past weekend, Chris had a Stray Lights purchase shipped in some giant boxes. Me, the un-fun mom, was ready to break them down and put them in the recycling pile. Chris had other ideas. Maybe some of you have made forts out of old refrigerator boxes, so you may be thinking, "what's the big deal?" But I ask you-- did your forts have LIGHTS?!?!? And a skylight? And a hidden escape door? Is your fort over eight feet long and currently residing behind the furniture in your living room? Yeah, I didn't think so.

Don't hate cause your baby daddy ain't as cool as my baby daddy.

Evie says "Asher"

Evie has a cutie new cousin named "Asher". I have not met him yet, but he's adorable and chubby and I love him already. Evie likes to talk about Asher-- problem is... when she says his name, it sounds like she's crassly referring to an...ahem... unmentionable part of the human anatomy. I love this. Why is this so funny to me? I would seriously never grow tired of listening to Evie's faux-curses. Chris is even trying to get her to say, "You Asher!!!". Sort of like when we used to encourage my nephew Micah to say "Elmo shirt in the pool" (use your imagination). Yeah, I know, we're the worst parents/aunts/uncles ever. So hem and haw and judge as you will, but admit it folks-- it's funny stuff.