I am also thankful for the food chain and God giving us yummy turkey. I know it isn't pretty, but it sure tasted good!
Nov 30, 2009
Happy Carnivore!
I am also thankful for the food chain and God giving us yummy turkey. I know it isn't pretty, but it sure tasted good!
Nov 25, 2009
Thank You, Lord, For What You Have Given Us This Day.....
The things I am thankful for:
* My family.
* Our children. Because of them, I am bestowed that special title, "Mom".
* My job. Without it, we would be on the streets, and that ain't no joke in this economy.
* Our home. We have one, and there are an awful lot of people who don't.
* My family's ability to "ride it out". As we begin this holiday season between now and the New Year, I am struck by the fact this will be the first season where I won't see Brian. You might remember Brian is my husband's cousin who committed suicide in September. There is usually a small gathering at some point where I see him. I won't this year, and it's already making my eyes teary thinking about that moment. I am so thankful to my extended family and their amazing ability to ride out difficult storms. Because of them, I can stand up in the storm.
* I am so thankful to friends. Friends who give me the chance to laugh and focus on something besides my daily grind. Friends who tell me difficult things I need to hear. Friends who let me cry with them. Friends who let me share difficult things in my life that I need help with and don't flinch. Friends who would fall on a sword for me. Friends who I would fall on a sword for.
* Opportunities. We have so much opportunity as Americans. As a small business owner ("capitalist" if you want to draw a line in the sand) I have been able to achieve some pretty hefty success. I pray that as we watch big government take away such basic opportunities, that we remember and are thankful for the successes we had when we did have such opportunities. Does it sound like I might be saying goodbye to something? I might be saying goodbye to the basic American right to start up and run a business. You are absolutely right. On a national and local level, I do believe if we don't turn this ship around, that right will be lost by the time then next election is upon us. I am extremely thankful that at this point, I still have that basic right.
I am extremely sad to see our basic American rights whittled away. Given away without thinking of the losses. Frittered away.
* I am thankful for our military troops. I want to thank my husband, father, and father-in-law for their combined 50+ years in the military. All of you make me proud.
* I am thankful to be alive.
* I am thankful for the Lord Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to cover my painful iniquities to allow me to hope. I have the hope of heaven that is beyond this current world. If I didn't have that hope, trust me, I would be gone. The current temporal earth offers me nothing but hopelessness. Thank you Lord Jesus. When this is all gone, it's just you and me, and that warms my heart.
Nov 24, 2009
Just Thinking Out Loud....on Paper
I just read the headline saying that Rosie O'Donnell and her "spouse" have been broken up for two years. Her spouse moved out two years ago and Rosie doesn't like being single.
Let's remember, Rosie and her partner were legally married in San Francisco awhile back when it was legal for a short time to do so.
Here is what gets me just a bit. This article refers to this couple "breaking up" just like dating partners do.
Has the gay and lesbian community dealt with these questions:
1) How does one dissolve a legalized same sex partnership? How to you get "divorced"?
2) This is my biggest question.....children. Several of Rosie's kids are adopted, one of them I remember was born to her partner. Did Rosie legally adopt all the children, including the one born to her partner? How does child support flow?
I am bugged by how cavalierly the media I am reading makes their "breaking up" sound. I take issue with the fact that there is a gaggle of children in that household that are now subject to the mood swings of the courts as anyone wonders how these sorts of things are handled.
Does anyone have any knowledge on this at all?
Let's remember, Rosie and her partner were legally married in San Francisco awhile back when it was legal for a short time to do so.
Here is what gets me just a bit. This article refers to this couple "breaking up" just like dating partners do.
Has the gay and lesbian community dealt with these questions:
1) How does one dissolve a legalized same sex partnership? How to you get "divorced"?
2) This is my biggest question.....children. Several of Rosie's kids are adopted, one of them I remember was born to her partner. Did Rosie legally adopt all the children, including the one born to her partner? How does child support flow?
I am bugged by how cavalierly the media I am reading makes their "breaking up" sound. I take issue with the fact that there is a gaggle of children in that household that are now subject to the mood swings of the courts as anyone wonders how these sorts of things are handled.
Does anyone have any knowledge on this at all?
Nov 18, 2009
A Hundred Numbers?
My four year old is a crack up. He makes me laugh daily.
He loves to be tickled. I have never seen a kid who loves to be tickled, relentlessly, for hours. I am not joking. He will walk up to you, raise his arms to show you his armpits, and want you to tickle him.
So today, I tickled him, for a long time. I think it was probably for thirty minutes or so. I was wiped out. So I usually tell him something like "I am all done" and give him a few hugs and kisses and then I am done. I did that today but asked a simple question, and here is how that conversation went:
Me: Do you know how much I love you?
BH: Hmmm......A hundred numbers?
Nov 16, 2009
And While The Cat is Away.....
Okay, just so you know....nothing major has happened in our city regarding the Mayor Sam Adams (not the patriot....nooooo....the openly homosexual mayor or our city that is rocked in a sex scandal right now....oh how I wish the real patriot could arrive on a horse and save us).
One thing. The volunteer recall effort failed by a slim margin. Now, the business community is stepping in and pumping some funding into the effort. I think it will happen this time.
However, while Sam is quiet. You need to know who is really in charge in our city.
Here is the LIBERAL local rag's take on the illustrious Randy Leonard. Click here.
And what makes me so mad. People like him get foisted into office on a whim because they have union dollars in a liberal city that literally just pops them into office. For those of us who might want a more moderate or conservative person in office, it is literally like running a Republican campaign in Kennebunkport, MA! It is next to impossible!
PS I just did a spell check by right clicking on Kennebunkport I just wrote. I have no idea if it's spelled correctly. Do you want to know the options for words it gave me to replace it with? Outspokenness and Drunkenness.
Now pick yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard at that. I know I am.
One thing. The volunteer recall effort failed by a slim margin. Now, the business community is stepping in and pumping some funding into the effort. I think it will happen this time.
However, while Sam is quiet. You need to know who is really in charge in our city.
Here is the LIBERAL local rag's take on the illustrious Randy Leonard. Click here.
And what makes me so mad. People like him get foisted into office on a whim because they have union dollars in a liberal city that literally just pops them into office. For those of us who might want a more moderate or conservative person in office, it is literally like running a Republican campaign in Kennebunkport, MA! It is next to impossible!
PS I just did a spell check by right clicking on Kennebunkport I just wrote. I have no idea if it's spelled correctly. Do you want to know the options for words it gave me to replace it with? Outspokenness and Drunkenness.
Now pick yourself up off the floor from laughing so hard at that. I know I am.
Nov 12, 2009
Nov 10, 2009
Some Stats for You
Okay, we have the verdict. The rankings of public schools in my state.
Here is the introductory article that gives the criteria for these rankings. Click here.
I encourage you to search for a couple of schools. Look up Oregon Connections Academy and Corbet School District. They are two of the top ranked schools in the state with "Outstanding" rankings. Corbett School District is an itsy bitsy school district that went charter. As a result, parents in neighboring districts are giving up on their public schools and sending their kids to Corbett. Of course, they are crying "foul" with the unions leading the way. Sigh....sounds like the battle ORCA has been through doesn't it?
One thing you can't dispute....numbers don't lie. Kids in charter schools both in classrooms and online in Oregon are doing phenomenally better than regular public schools. The numbers speak.
So let me give you some schools to look up. Scott Elementary School (all in the Portland Public School District), Roseway Heights School would be our middle school. Madison High School.
I'll give you the results. Scott scores 75 on a scale of 133. In my math, that is just a smidge over a fifty percent. Scott is ranked as "satisfactory". I find that label troubling.
Roseway ranks 74 out of 133. I have the same response. I don't think that is satisfactory. I think it's below average in the bell curve in my mind.
Are you sitting? Do a search of Madison High School. I will tell you but please go look it up. Look at the breakdown of this horrifying score. 41 out of 133. The bad ranking basically comes from students not reaching math and reading scores at grade level and their achievement falling off. So whatever "satisfactory" grade work your kid (or mine) might have at Scott and at Roseway, it is almost a guarantee by the time they attend the only public bricks and mortar high school for this neighborhood, they will no longer be at grade level by the time they graduate.
Want to hear something really appalling? The typical school in Portland that the media and everyone points their finger to as "the worst school"......look up Jefferson High School in the Portland Public School District. This is the school that is always pointed at as the poster child of bad schools in our state. Their score is 47.
They scored better than Madison. They have more low income kids, fewer teachers with a master's education, fewer students with English as a second language, etc. They have all those things that public school advocates say make it hard to do education well. They have it worse than Madison, yet can brag they aren't as bad as Madison. I should call their public relations department and see if I can help them shift the "bad rap" scrutiny from Jefferson to Madison.
The only high school available to my family ranks worse than the notoriously known bad school! I have been vindicated.
This is what I have blowing steam about for so long, and it's nice to see it in black and white.
UPDATE: Here is another article released today. Click here. Basically Oregon has been rated by the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for a Better Workforce as having a "D" rating for their schools. This is a key rating since Obama's Race to the Top education stimulus monies will be granted partially based upon this rating. Obama doesn't plan to give failing or mediocre schools money, only succeeding states get stimulus money.
What's interesting is this, Oregon got a B rating in the category of technology--because of ORCA. I think that B mixed with the other categories is the only reason Oregon did not get an F, if I do some quick figuring in my head.
Check out the comments, of course, union backers and other naysayers keep saying that this is a farce. Well, numbers and ratings don't lie. Until a regular public school (referred to as alternative schools in this article!) can crank out some good numbers, naysayers and unionites are just blowing smoke and creating white noise.
Here is the introductory article that gives the criteria for these rankings. Click here.
I encourage you to search for a couple of schools. Look up Oregon Connections Academy and Corbet School District. They are two of the top ranked schools in the state with "Outstanding" rankings. Corbett School District is an itsy bitsy school district that went charter. As a result, parents in neighboring districts are giving up on their public schools and sending their kids to Corbett. Of course, they are crying "foul" with the unions leading the way. Sigh....sounds like the battle ORCA has been through doesn't it?
One thing you can't dispute....numbers don't lie. Kids in charter schools both in classrooms and online in Oregon are doing phenomenally better than regular public schools. The numbers speak.
So let me give you some schools to look up. Scott Elementary School (all in the Portland Public School District), Roseway Heights School would be our middle school. Madison High School.
I'll give you the results. Scott scores 75 on a scale of 133. In my math, that is just a smidge over a fifty percent. Scott is ranked as "satisfactory". I find that label troubling.
Roseway ranks 74 out of 133. I have the same response. I don't think that is satisfactory. I think it's below average in the bell curve in my mind.
Are you sitting? Do a search of Madison High School. I will tell you but please go look it up. Look at the breakdown of this horrifying score. 41 out of 133. The bad ranking basically comes from students not reaching math and reading scores at grade level and their achievement falling off. So whatever "satisfactory" grade work your kid (or mine) might have at Scott and at Roseway, it is almost a guarantee by the time they attend the only public bricks and mortar high school for this neighborhood, they will no longer be at grade level by the time they graduate.
Want to hear something really appalling? The typical school in Portland that the media and everyone points their finger to as "the worst school"......look up Jefferson High School in the Portland Public School District. This is the school that is always pointed at as the poster child of bad schools in our state. Their score is 47.
They scored better than Madison. They have more low income kids, fewer teachers with a master's education, fewer students with English as a second language, etc. They have all those things that public school advocates say make it hard to do education well. They have it worse than Madison, yet can brag they aren't as bad as Madison. I should call their public relations department and see if I can help them shift the "bad rap" scrutiny from Jefferson to Madison.
The only high school available to my family ranks worse than the notoriously known bad school! I have been vindicated.
This is what I have blowing steam about for so long, and it's nice to see it in black and white.
UPDATE: Here is another article released today. Click here. Basically Oregon has been rated by the US Chamber of Commerce Institute for a Better Workforce as having a "D" rating for their schools. This is a key rating since Obama's Race to the Top education stimulus monies will be granted partially based upon this rating. Obama doesn't plan to give failing or mediocre schools money, only succeeding states get stimulus money.
What's interesting is this, Oregon got a B rating in the category of technology--because of ORCA. I think that B mixed with the other categories is the only reason Oregon did not get an F, if I do some quick figuring in my head.
Check out the comments, of course, union backers and other naysayers keep saying that this is a farce. Well, numbers and ratings don't lie. Until a regular public school (referred to as alternative schools in this article!) can crank out some good numbers, naysayers and unionites are just blowing smoke and creating white noise.
Nov 9, 2009
A Day to Remember
I remember this day twenty years ago. I had lived my whole life up to that point only knowing East and West Germany. History class in high school on European history, we talked about the Berlin Wall and how in a split second whole families were separated, and how people lost their lives trying to escape. It was weighty stuff.
It gives me chills to watch this video and remember the details. Remembering Reagans's words and influential actions that pushed Communism over the edge. Remembering Kennedy's words espousing Democracy and how it's not perfect but it sure is a great thing.
Today we remember those who have lost family member's in that conflict, sacrificed, died, and suffered in constant state of being imprisoned in their own city. You have much to celebrate to day. Twenty years of freedom!
Let's not forget the high cost of freedom. Let's not squander freedom, let's celebrate it when we see it, and squelch it when we see it trampled on.
Nov 8, 2009
Heidi Klum and Seal.....Move Over!
Our pastor's daughter, AH, and our youngest son, BH, are just a few months apart in age. They are inseparable pals though. They just finished playing their first season of soccer together and had a fabulous time. More than once we joke about how we are arranging their future marriage now, and how special that would be.
At one of the first soccer practices, the coach had them doing a drill where they shot a goal to a moving "goal" which was two people holding a stretched out beach towel. As the kids passed under the beach towel, the joke was said, "In some cultures, they would be married!"
Anyway, my dear friend sent me pictures of our two little jewels that she has taken all this season both at soccer and a recent Halloween party. We both agree, they are beautiful together, and they will always be friends.
At one of the first soccer practices, the coach had them doing a drill where they shot a goal to a moving "goal" which was two people holding a stretched out beach towel. As the kids passed under the beach towel, the joke was said, "In some cultures, they would be married!"
Anyway, my dear friend sent me pictures of our two little jewels that she has taken all this season both at soccer and a recent Halloween party. We both agree, they are beautiful together, and they will always be friends.
Nov 2, 2009
That Pesky Adoption "Thing"
I wrote about this long long ago. Some of the weird questions and situations I have gotten myself into just by being an adoptive mom.
I have said that the worst, and I mean it, thing someone can say.......and I pause here to clarify, this is always said by the deliverer with the best of intention......"Now watch, once you adopt a baby, you'll get pregnant."
While we were preparing to adopt and directly after we had adopted both of our kids, hands down that was the most common thing said to us. When the kids were babies, it was said to us by someone to us daily.
Just to recap why that actually just pours salt on a wound is this:
1) By the time a person has made the huge emotional and financial investment to adopt, it is pretty clear the biological plumbing isn't working. Ours has never worked and we fall into the statistic where 70% of infertile couples never know why they are infertile. So truly, the plumbing isn't working and there has been a whole slew of expensive investigation to figure out why. To adopt is to say you are done with that roller coaster.
You have also mourned some losses. You have lost the idea that your children will look like you and have characteristics of you and your distant family. You lose the idea that your kids will related to you biologically. You have lost the childbirth experience. I know some also say to me, "You're not missing anything." Well, I do believe I am, and I have lost that experience.
2) Especially after the adopted baby arrives, people say that. So why would I want a pregnancy now that I have this little gem in my arms I have waited so long for? My oldest child was my in laws first grandchild. When another grandchild was on the way, not ours, someone actually said to them, "Isn't it great to get a real grandchild?" That person was quickly corrected.
I have been asked this, "Now that you have an adopted baby, watch, you'll get pregnant with a real baby!" Let me tell you, our children are not imaginary. They are our children. I can't tell you how dismissive that feels to both my children and myself. It degrades what we have, and what we have is pretty special.
Okay, at a candle party two weeks ago. The gal, K, who hosted the party, has been in the mires of adoption/infertility. She has been married a long time. We have had long long talks, and I try to encourage her as much as I can.
Sure enough.....a nice lady said it, "K, watch, once you adopt you'll get pregnant. You're just stressed out."
Reason number three why not to say that sentiment to infertile couples.....ready, it wasn't pretty.....her face turned red, and I could see the pure frustration coming forth. I am amazed at how controlled her response was verbally compared to her physical symptoms.
K: Unless you can get him (points to the other room where her husband is working) to make sperm, I just don't think that is going to happen.
Lesson learned, unless you know why a person is adopting (lack of sperm, eggs, tubes, plumbing) it might be a good idea to not say that hot button of a statement.
I have said that the worst, and I mean it, thing someone can say.......and I pause here to clarify, this is always said by the deliverer with the best of intention......"Now watch, once you adopt a baby, you'll get pregnant."
While we were preparing to adopt and directly after we had adopted both of our kids, hands down that was the most common thing said to us. When the kids were babies, it was said to us by someone to us daily.
Just to recap why that actually just pours salt on a wound is this:
1) By the time a person has made the huge emotional and financial investment to adopt, it is pretty clear the biological plumbing isn't working. Ours has never worked and we fall into the statistic where 70% of infertile couples never know why they are infertile. So truly, the plumbing isn't working and there has been a whole slew of expensive investigation to figure out why. To adopt is to say you are done with that roller coaster.
You have also mourned some losses. You have lost the idea that your children will look like you and have characteristics of you and your distant family. You lose the idea that your kids will related to you biologically. You have lost the childbirth experience. I know some also say to me, "You're not missing anything." Well, I do believe I am, and I have lost that experience.
2) Especially after the adopted baby arrives, people say that. So why would I want a pregnancy now that I have this little gem in my arms I have waited so long for? My oldest child was my in laws first grandchild. When another grandchild was on the way, not ours, someone actually said to them, "Isn't it great to get a real grandchild?" That person was quickly corrected.
I have been asked this, "Now that you have an adopted baby, watch, you'll get pregnant with a real baby!" Let me tell you, our children are not imaginary. They are our children. I can't tell you how dismissive that feels to both my children and myself. It degrades what we have, and what we have is pretty special.
Okay, at a candle party two weeks ago. The gal, K, who hosted the party, has been in the mires of adoption/infertility. She has been married a long time. We have had long long talks, and I try to encourage her as much as I can.
Sure enough.....a nice lady said it, "K, watch, once you adopt you'll get pregnant. You're just stressed out."
Reason number three why not to say that sentiment to infertile couples.....ready, it wasn't pretty.....her face turned red, and I could see the pure frustration coming forth. I am amazed at how controlled her response was verbally compared to her physical symptoms.
K: Unless you can get him (points to the other room where her husband is working) to make sperm, I just don't think that is going to happen.
Lesson learned, unless you know why a person is adopting (lack of sperm, eggs, tubes, plumbing) it might be a good idea to not say that hot button of a statement.
Halloween 2009
Yes, surprisingly, Tyrone loves the slimy insides of pumpkins.
Tasha loves to snag a piece of candy and toss it around the house.
Anyone here yet??
After a full day of chasing candy wrappers and eating pumpkin guts.
The kids are gone....whew....Nov 1, 2009
Online Learning Trends
Okay, you remember my last post where I couldn't remember the name of the woman who started off the task force meetings with her powerful synopsis of online learning trends worldwide?
You want to be dazzled? Here is a recent interview with her regarding those trends, more domestically. She is an amazing resource when it comes to figuring all this out. Please take a moment and read this. It's a very easy read and will open your eyes to what online has for our (humankind's) future. Plus, the comments are quite enlightening as well.
Click here.
You want to be dazzled? Here is a recent interview with her regarding those trends, more domestically. She is an amazing resource when it comes to figuring all this out. Please take a moment and read this. It's a very easy read and will open your eyes to what online has for our (humankind's) future. Plus, the comments are quite enlightening as well.
Click here.
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