When we lived in Minnesota, there was a John Deere dealer down the street from us and I used to walk down there and buy toy farm implements for my dad because he was an engineer and utterly *fascinated* with the equipment. When I got to go combining in Montana, I called him from the combine to gloat. 🙂 He stores his collection in the guest bathroom and changes up the load in the grain trailer depending on the season. This is the Christmas incarnation.
My picture didn’t get posted last night because Daniel ended up in the ER with a febrile seizure. He hasn’t seized again but he has a decent fever so I’ll be giving him Tylenol every 4-6 hours until we can get that fever down.
So… something far away:
This is Montana and if you squint, you can see the Sweet Grass Hills in the difference distance. I could honestly say that I could see Canada from my house. 😉
For my “free day”:
No… the bison wasn’t charging me — I happened to get it out of my window while driving through Yellowstone one afternoon in March 2008 when we were at Chico Hot Springs for Pastor’s Retreat.
We’re taking a break from posting on the 47% today to do my Monday meme. Thomas of Listening for the Shepherd and I are chatting via Twitter so there should likely be a post tomorrow.
FOR TODAY September 24, 2012
Outside my window… sunny and in the low 80’s. I cannot wait for actual fall weather to get here.
I am thinking… about how to reform social services.
I am thankful… for Anna’s liver transplant. It took 2 years and 8 months for the transplant to come but it’s still an awesome thing.
In the kitchen… dishes to be done. I did make orzo this weekend though.
I am wearing… navy blue maternity shirt and Jon’s Left Behind shorts.
I am creating… an entry based on my convo with Thomas (eventually).
I am going… pray that Daniel will hold tight until I’m done with this entry.
I am reading… Bossypants by Tina Fey.
I am hoping… tomorrow is quieter than Tuesdays usually are around here.
I am looking forward to… the NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles season premieres tomorrow night.
I am learning how hard it can be to type with a house panther on one’s wrists. (Yes Edda, I’m talking to you.)
Around the house… vacuuming to do among other things.
I am pondering… the feeling of claws in my flesh. (Edda, please let go of my stomach. Mommy doesn’t like it when you draw blood.)
A favorite quote for today… ??Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.?? — C.S. Lewis
One of my favorite things… house panthers. (Edda totally told me to say that.)
A few plans for the rest of the week: Morning Prayer, season premieres on CBS, PECS training for Daniel, massage on Friday, and Run for Courage on Saturday.
Hosted by The Simple Woman’s Daybook
Katie, the awesome chica behind NFP and Me is hosting a link-up as a way of celebrating her 2nd wedding anniversary. As I’ve now been married for 10 years, I figured that I’d toss in my $0.02 on the subject.
[+] Respect your spouse’s limitations. I’m a serious introvert (which may/may not surprise people) and I’m married to someone who is the exact opposite — an off-the-charts extrovert. Jon *likes* being around people and gets recharged that way. I, on the other hand, need to have time in a dark and quiet room after sharing the Peace at church. As it would look really wrong if people found me in the coat room reading a book during coffee hour in Montana, we used to take two cars to church. This way, I could leave when I felt “peopled-out” and Jon could stay and have all the conversations he needed. It also means that I need much more “alone” time than he does and I have to be really intentional about communicating this in a way that does not come across as “I don’t want to be around you”.
[+] It is occasionally OK to go to bed angry. There’s a point at which things have been discussed to death and no good is going to come out of talking/fighting about it any more for that night. There are also times when one person needs to decompress before they can really deal with the situation. In those occasions, it is actually better to just get some sleep and deal with things in the morning when everyone is not cranky and tired. I know that there is the verse in Ephesians 4 about not letting the sun go down on your anger but the point that Paul is making to them is not to let things fester. As long as you do plan to deal with it in the morning or at some point the next day, just go to bed. It will work out better.
[+] If you really can’t live without something being done a certain way, just do it yourself. You’re each going to come into the marriage with a specific way of doing things from folding laundry to loading the dishwasher. If something has to be done a specific way or at a specific time and asking your spouse to do it your way is going to start a fight, just do it yourself. It’s easier in the long run and spares the two of you a fight over why not matching socks while folding laundry is a crime that should be punishable by death.
[+] You need to be on the same page when it comes to starting a family. This was one of the reasons why Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert divorced her husband. The idea was that she would give up her career at age 30 to start a family and she wasn’t ready to do it. There were other things that contributed to her divorce (like her adultery) but that was the main one she listed. Is the wife going to stay home with the kids? Is there a compelling reason to avoid a pregnancy? (I’m assuming that anyone clicking over here from Katie’s blog is probably going to be Catholic and an NFP advocate.) Is a home birth an option? The only piece of advice I can give (other than to be on the same page) is to give yourselves some time to enjoy each other before you start having kids. It’s not to say that there isn’t life after kids — it just becomes a bit harder to get that weekend away once kids are in the picture.
Those are my thoughts on the subject. Happy “not-killing-Steven” anniversary, Katie!
You know how I wrote that letter to the editor of several papers last week on this subject?
The Great Falls Tribune published it yesterday. It was edited a bit but they still published it.
My reaction upon seeing last night: depressed. I mean, it’s great that they published my letter so that at least my viewpoint is present and the parents might see it; but I can’t help but feel really sad that the lawsuit exists in the first place.
Here is the letter I submitted in various forms to several Montana newspapers regarding the couple suing because their daughter was born with cystic fibrosis and they didn’t get to terminate their pregnancy with her. The papers were the Great Falls Tribune, the Spokesman-Review, and the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Since hearing about the lawsuit brought forward by Kerrie and Joe Evans of Gardiner, alleging that Kerrie??s right to the information that her daughter had cystic fibrosis was not given and thus her right to terminate her pregnancy was violated, I have struggled with the decision that it should be heard in court.
You see, I am the mother of a son with developmental delays and autism who was born 11 weeks prematurely when I developed HELLP Syndrome. It was only because my doctor caught it that both of us lived and my son ended up staying in the NICU at Benefis for two months. Two years later, he caught a cold which landed him in the PICU at UC Davis Medical Center with him intubated and me having to sign paperwork to put him on ECMO. ECMO was thankfully avoided when some simple ventilator changes caused an improvement but that night will haunt me forever. Another cold landed him in the hospital over Thanksgiving and we live our lives having to be careful of every cold or virus people contract around us.
What irritates me about all of this is that if my son had died in March 2011, every hour spent sleeping in the PICU bay, standing outside while codes were called on him, having to blog news on him because talking to people on the phone would cause me to weep uncontrollably would have more than worth it. Being his mother has made me an immeasurably better person.
I don??t doubt the emotional toll that having a sick daughter has taken on the Evans but I can??t help but sense that they view their daughter as merely an inconvenience rather than a child whom they love. I hope to God that I am wrong.
I don’t know if any of them will print it but I will keep all of you updated if they do.
**UPDATE** They printed it.
It’s an election year so politicians are falling over themselves for votes and most are pretty amenable towards doing anything you want within reason. So… how do you bug your politicians in a non-election year? How do you do it when you’ve got young kids and no time? Here are a couple ideas. If you have any more, the combox is open for them.
Petition sites. I subscribe to MoveOn.Org and Change.Org among others but for those who are my polar opposite politically, there’s RightMarch.Com. For Catholics, there’s CatholicVote.Org. For those into human rights, there’s Avaaz.Org and Amnesty International. To make your own petitions, you can use SignOn.Org and Change.Org.
We The People @ WhiteHouse.Gov. This kind of goes along with #1 but it’s a bit of a different thing. You go through the petitions already open on the site and if there isn’t one to fit your issue, you can start a new one. You have to meet a certain threshold of signatures but if you can meet it, it will be reviewed by the Administration. It’s kind of nice because you can cut out the middle man and go straight to the Administration.
Call your Congressional Representative. I have a feeling that my representative has me on the “oh-for-the-love-of-God-will-she-stop-calling-and-emailing-me” list. 🙂 If you don’t know who your House person is, go here. It will ask you for your address and zip code + 4 because in urban areas, there can be multiple Congressional representatives as it is based on population. I know that my town is split between two districts. Once you get the name of your House rep, click on their name to get their phone numbers in DC and in your local area. Every Congressperson has a website. Here is mine as an example. His contact page is here. I recommend calling them vs. emailing them because then they send you a form email and if it isn’t something you want to hear, it doesn’t make you feel happy. Calling them connects you to a person and they’ll listen to you and take down your comment. Be nice to them — many of them are college kids doing internships and they don’t need your vitriol. If you despise them, petition them all you want and remember not to vote for them when they come up for re-election in two years.
Call your senator. This should be easy as there are two per state and they’re generally more recognizable than one’s Congresscritter. Their websites are easy to find — it’s [last name].senate.gov and they also have pages with their contact information. Senators serve a six year term so you’re stuck with them longer and you might as well make them serve you.
Write a letter to the editor of your newspaper. It never ceases to amaze me how many times newspapers publish letters from people that deal with the latest conspiracy theory. It was almost humorous to see what my local weekly paper published in Montana. My answer to this is to submit something of substance on an issue about which I am passionate. I’ve been published a few times in various papers and it helps to bring your issue to the forefront.
Pray. Romans 13:1 states “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.” (NIV) In other words, we’re called to submit to the authority of the governing authorities, regardless of whether or not you like them. Part of our job as Christians is to pray for those in authority. Our liturgy in the AALC even has specific collects for this. If nothing else, praying for those in authority whom you hate will change your heart and teach you patience.
Vote. I’m a permanent mail-in ballot and it’s not hard to acquire one. If you don’t vote, you’re actions are a confirmation of the status quo and in my opinion, you lose your right to complain. The right to vote has only been given to women in the last 100 years and to African-Americans without prejudice in the last 60 years. Honor the sacrifice of those who came before you and exercise your right to have a voice.
For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.