Make a wish!!

Handsome guy, my brother! 

Someone should keep us women away from the wine!

 

That Motorcycle Man Is My Brother!!!

And, he just turned 30!! Happy Birthday Doug!! 

Me and My Nephew

 

Me and My Little Man

 

Hello, did I make a point?

Well, I'm kinda excited. Check this out!

Reality Check for 'Roe'
With the hard right hoping for reversal, the black-and-white war over abortion finds itself immersed in shades of gray.


By Martha Brant and Evan Thomas
Newsweek
March 6, 2006 issue - At first glance, it appeared that the forces of the pro-life movement were on the march last week. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a case on partial-birth abortions, and the betting was that the justices would uphold a federal law that bans the controversial procedure. In South Dakota the state legislature voted to outlaw all abortions except to save the life of the mother. The legislation, which did not even include the usual exception for rape or incest, was clearly intended as a frontal assault on the high court's 1973 decision, Roe v. Wade, guaranteeing a woman's right to an abortion.

Does this mean that Roe's days are numbered? Not exactly. On closer inspection, the abortion-rights battle is likely to be fought on the margins, limiting—but by no means eliminating—a woman's right to choose. The question of abortion is much more ambiguous than the louder voices on either side of the pro-life/pro-choice divide are willing to admit. The hard-line anti-abortion crusaders may be disappointed by the legal realities, at least in the short term. At the same time, the pro-abortion-rights interest groups are just beginning to grapple with an uncomfortable truth: that many of the million-odd women who have abortions every year are deeply troubled, if not guilt-ridden. "Our patients are not coming to, quote, 'exercise their constitutional rights'," says Claire Keyes, who runs a Pittsburgh abortion clinic. "They want to talk about prayer and forgiveness."
Even if Bush-appointed Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito want to overturn Roe (not a certainty), there is still a five-vote majority on the court to uphold the precedent, which was reaffirmed as recently as 1992. For that simple reason, trying to reverse Roe now would be a "strategic loser," says James Bopp, general counsel of the National Right to Life Committee. The federal courts would likely strike down the South Dakota law, and the Supreme Court would either refuse to hear the case or—worse for the pro-lifers—once again re-affirm Roe, say conservative legal strategists. Pro-life politicians, however, are apparently more interested in playing to their base. Daniel McConchie of Americans United for Life tried to warn Rep. Roger Hunt, the chief Republican sponsor of the South Dakota bill, that his approach could backfire. "He wasn't even interested in talking to me," said McConchie. "He had his mind made up on what he wanted to do."
States may have more luck chipping away at abortion. There are bills in many state legislatures to give fetuses "personhood" and requiring waiting periods and pre-abortion counseling. Some states are considering laws to require women to get an ultrasound image before obtaining an abortion.

Though a narrow majority of Americans say they are pro-choice, recent polls show that roughly two out of three favor some restrictions on abortion. The anecdotal evidence is growing that women have moral qualms about any abortion, even if they feel compelled to have one. The pro-life movement has done an effective job of showing that a fetus is not just a "blob of tissue," says Peg Johnston, who runs an abortion clinic in New York state. Her patients now talk about " 'babies' " and " 'killing'," she says. "At first I thought they were picking up the language from [anti-abortion protesters] outside. But then I started really tuning in to my patients, and I realized, 'She really feels that way'."

A growing number of clinics are coming up with coping strategies. At her Pittsburgh clinic, Claire Keyes encourages patients to write their feelings on a paper heart that she later tacks to the waiting-room wall. "I love you even though I know in my heart I can't keep you," reads one of about a thousand hearts, which have now overflowed into binders. Keyes gives each patient a polished semiprecious stone to imbue with whatever meaning she wants. The two clinics that permit late-term abortions let their patients hold the fetus in a blanket.
The language of pro-choice politicians has started to reflect the grass roots. Abortion is a "tragic choice," says Sen. Hillary Clinton. But the pro-abortion-rights groups are still partly in denial. Last month William Saletan of Slate, the online magazine, wrote an op-ed piece in The New York Times that has set off a buzz of controversy. "It's bad to kill a fetus," wrote Saletan. "You can't eliminate the moral question by ignoring it." But Nancy Keenan, the new president of NARAL, throws up her hands at Saletan's characterization of abortion as "bad," and exclaims, There it is again! Judgment!" Frances Kissling, head of Catholics for a Free Choice, is pushing for "more honesty about ambiguity," as she puts it. "There is a deep-seated fear that if you address the moral issues, you're going to lose," says Kissling. "But we're losing anyway. It's only by addressing the moral issues that we'll get some relief on the political questions."
This week Kissling and the Center for American Progress, a liberal think tank, are hosting an unusual summit meeting in Washington between old-line true believers and middle-of-the-roaders. They are unlikely to reach a consensus, but at least they will begin facing important questions about morality and abortion.

I just had to put that on here. And reiterate my opinion that abortion is bad for babies, bad for women, bad for families and bad for humans. I cast no judgement on any woman who has made that decision, for good or bad, but I definitely cast judgement on abortion as an industry and as a whole. I can say this as a Christian, or just as a mom, a student, a person: I'd love to see abortion go the way of the dodo.

Happy B-day Doug!!!

Today is the party for my big brother's 30th B-day . Yay! He is a big boy now. Someone told me that if he starts acting his age he will be the enemy (an adult) to those of us who have refrained from acting our age. Meaning (by my translation anyway) that if he starts acting his age his first enemy will be his wife, who hasn't acted her age since I met her, and she is older than he. In fact, she's usually more fun than he is. So, I think that means that he is figuratively older than she. Just don't tell him I said so. We, on the other hand, are as childish as we can be. Well, we try anyway. Unfortunately the exhaustion, stress, and hectic schedules are not conducive to youthful exuberance. So, the heighth of our childish behavior seems to be a boringly small amount of sarcastic bickering as we doze off at the hideously middle-aged bedtime of 9:30.

It's goes a little something like this;

Me: "You're a bed hog".
Him: "You suck".
Me: "Shut up".
Him: "Snore......"

This is not young, hip, teasing banter, people. This is the I-love-you-but-I'm-too-tired-to-play-with-you banter of impending old-age. I'm not even 30 yet and my older brother and sister in law have a more exciting life than I do. They do more stuff, have more fun and stay up later.

What does this mean? How is this possible?

Well, I'd sit here and figure it out, but I'm too freakin' tired.

Hey, I'm back.

Hiya, everyone. I am happy to say that we have all survived the last couple weeks. Thank God. Anyway, we are thinking of moving to far away places in the next couple of years, like New Mexico. The universities are good and the property prices are soooo low. So, I'm going to cut back on my class load for the next few terms as is Brandon so we can save and move with some extra cash. I think it'll be neat to live near all the relatives I have there for a while too. I haven't seen some of them for quite a while. Should be fun. Plus, I am looking forward to the warm sunny days! They have more of them, you know. Anyway, gonna get back to studying.

Big fat ssssiiiiigggggghhhhhh.

Well, it looks as if we are surviving Rotavirus. Thank God. Corbin is pretty much back to normal with the exception of some mildly squishy poop. He is no longer on any medication and I feel that he is sleeping normally as he is back to bouncing on me in the morning when he gets bored with Noggin. We did take him to see Hoodwinked today and he loved it. It was one of our little gifts to him for his baptismal birthday which he was sick for. He also got some new Veggie Tales stuff and some Hermie stuff and a beanie that he has to share with me. He keeps telling me that the baptismal birthday is important because that is the day he bacame God's baby. I thought that was pretty cool. He is running around being a crazy dude today and Brandon and I are playing catch-up with the homework stuff. Whee. Anyway, hopefull he won't get sick for a while after this. We are saving the anti-puke medication and guarding it like it is liquid gold. That stuff is the best!!!!

OK, can I start over? This sucks!

Well, my little angel has rotavirus. This, if you didn't know, is evil, crappy and terrifying. The mom that walks away from this without an elevated heartrate from stress and severe exhaustion after that has my respect. He went from a bit of surprise vomit accompanied by, well, no symptoms at all to a rock-hard tummy and screaming pain to projectile vomiting. He is now sleeping peacefully under the power of a really really appreciated Rx that appears to do it's job like gangbusters. We've heard nary a peep out of him and I really prefer it that way. I would like to not have to scrape rancid smelling vomit off of anything for one night. All the praying we've been doing has been answered for our little guy, and the cost of it all ($, school, work) really just makes no difference because He pulled our little man through it. He doesn't even seem annoyed that I went 40 mph over the speed limit last night on the way to the hospital. I decided (dumb idea) to educate myself as to what this virus is capable of and found that it kills some 600,000 kids globally every year. All through dehydration. That was something that I think I didn't need to know. Oh well. The price you pay, right? Well, it looks now like my adorable nephew has it. I'll keep praying. How about you?