We're Back!

We arrived home from a visit to the States Thursday evening. Friday morning Alaina awakened at 4 am with a slight fever and nasal congestion. Since her molars are coming in way early I figured it was that and gave her some pain reliever/fever reducer. When she woke up next, she was hot and had a fever of 103.8F. To make a long story short it's been quite a weekend with this relentless fever. Good thing she has an appointment with her doctor this week. Anyway, pics from the trip and more when Alaina is feeling better and I am getting more sleep.

Frustrated, Discouraged (but not beaten) Ramblings

Surely we must be in the last days. The world is falling apart around me. It seems that it is now better to be homosexual than a straight (never divorced) married couple with children. Godlessness abounds. People walking down the street having a normal everyday conversation can be overheard referring to this f-ing thing or that f-ing thing. Sexual abstinance for unmarried people is considered outdated and stupid. Even in many of the churches today. Gay ministers? So we're now ignoring that part of the Bible that calls homosexuality an abomination in the sight of the Lord? Children now run the households as society has decided that parents have no right to correct their children. Seriously, we are one step away from society deciding that children may not go to church or be taught religion until they are 18 because it shouldn't be "forced" on them or some such nonsense as that. Hmmm reminds me of communism. No one really cares about anything that matters anymore. Reporters don't report the truth, they only report what they want people to believe. New Orleans is still a mess, but taxpayer money managed to take care of the Saints ball team and their playing stadium. Glad they have their priorities straight. And seriously, they want us to send money down there when they paid for the football team first? Little black children go missing every day, but you'll never see it on the news. Caylee Anthony will be in the news forever and she is more than likely dead. Not that her case doesn't deserve to be solved. It does, but she isn't any more important that any other child. The government says they're taking care of their wounded warriors, but empty buildings that house do nothing programs don't help. The big wigs show up for the cameras and blow a lot of smoke, but in the end nothing of value is done. They'll spend tons of money telling us how they are working for our brave wounded soldiers, but they wont put in automatic doors at the health clinic so a soldier using a walker or a wheelchair can get in with out serious difficulty/potential injury. It amazes me that we have automatic doors on the PX but not on the health clinic and no one can seem to do anything about that. They can put in place a false entity that all donations for the guys "must" go to, but the money doesn't seem to be going to the soldiers. I don't know where it goes, but I don't see it going to them. Maybe it got used in the bail out of the fat cats on wall street. I keep seeing commercials about America Supports You. But I can't seem to get any of that support for the soldiers in my husbands unit. People are always saying what can we do, but when you tell them something that the soldiers would actually want something that might actually work, somehow it can't be done. All of this tells me that no one really wants to help anyone else. I look at the movie stars and how they throw attention to this cause or that cause. I see Oprah taking up the cause of girls in Africa. It's a nice idea and all but why do they want the average american to send money we clearly don't have to these things? When Oprah and the rest of them sell everything they have and only live in a modest home and drive modest cars and wear modest clothes and fly coach and eat at home or at modest places and give all their extra money to the causes they tout, then I'll believe that this is a cause they really believe in. Seriously, I know she earned it, but what does Oprah need with a 50 million dollar home in a state she doesn't live in? Why can't that money go to feed kids in Africa? Why can't someone take up the plight of the dirt poor in our own country in Appalachia? Now there is a section of our country and a people that my heart cries for. People in our own country going hungry, no clean water, no indoor plumbing, no healthcare readily available, unable to meet their basic needs. No we'd rather send our money to some other place. What ever happened to charity begins at home? I'd like to go and work among the people of Appalachia when my husband retires. The government beuracrats wont stop me there, they don't care enough to stop me there. You don't see politicians caring about their votes. Of course Obama didn't care enough to go to see our wounded soldiers at Landstuhl since the cameras couldn't come. I can't understand anyone wanting to vote for a person who puts talking to people in other countries (where they think he's an idiot that's why they want him to win) about stuff that he has no control over over encouraging the men and women who have put it all on the line to keep his sorry butt safe. It's late and I can't sleep for all the frustration I am feeling. You'll always get the God's honest truth out of me at such times. Not that I'd lie at other times, but I might not be so forthcoming. The truth is I want Jesus to come and I want Him to do it now. I don't want to wait. I want to go. And I know that it's selfish of me because He will come just as soon as the full number is gathered in. And I do want them to make it. Thanks to Jungle mom and the others who are out there bringing them to Christ. The thing is too I know I'm not worthy. I'm not any better than anyone else. I'm just forgiven. How beautiful is that? Forgiven, not perfect just forgiven. We had a houseguest last week that did something really quite hurtfull. I spoke to her about it and it wasn't intentional just one of those thoughtless things that we all do from time to time. My husband has a hard time with stuff like that because when someone hurts me he wants to rain down hurt upon them. lol he loves me. I had the beautiful choice of choosing to forgive her or choosing to not forgive her and knowing that true forgiveness means more than saying I forgive you. It means meaning it and restoring the friendship to where it had been as if the injury had never happened. I chose to do that. I could not have made that choice had God not made that choice for me. He chose to forgive my sin and restore me to the relationship we would have had had Eve and Adam (and me)not sinned. I was thinking of Eve the other day. I was feeling a bit whelmed with Alaina and really felt (still do) that I am flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to her. Can you imagine how hard it must have been for Eve? Having those babies? She had no freakin clue how to raise them. She was never a child. She couldn't have remembered back to how she felt when she was their age. She had no mother or older sister to bounce ideas off of. There was no Dr. Phil or Dr. Dobson. She hadn't watched friends and family parent and chosen the best ideas she had seen from them to use in raising her own. I have to say I'd rather be me than her. Having had the garden, to lose it, to lose that relationship with God and then suffer learning to work and give birth, and make clothes and all of that and truly from scratch. No recipie books there. You suppose she was ever suicidal or perhaps not. Since no one had ever died perhaps it never occured to her.

PS: the baby has been waking up in the middle of the night lately. Several times and crying for a minute and then going back to sleep. Any ideas what's wrong with her?

I Support McCain/Palin '08!

I support John McCain for president. This is a man who will do what it takes to make our country run right. His opponent Obama will not. Obama is a man with no experience who is incapable of making a decision. His voting record in the senate shows that when the controversial decisions need to be made he votes "present". Dispicable. Obama is paid to do a job by the tax payers of Illinois that he refuses to do. He spent what one year in the senate before starting his campaign for president? How does he have the gall to call governer Palin inexperienced? If that isn't the pot calling the kettle black. and no don't write me a nasty comment, that wasn't meant to be a racist remark. I'm just plainly saying that he isn't capable of leading the free world. He isn't even doing a decent job as junior senator from Illinois. Why would we want to elect him president?

NOBAMA 08!!!

Go on over to Jungle Hut and read this post. Globetrottingarmywife supports this post and this blogger. I support because I love my country and I love my Lord and until He comes again I will do what I must to see His will carried out. My prayer today is that the Lord will rain down His blessing though we don't deserve it and have His will in this election.

Busy

It's been crazy around here lately. Besides doing everything I have to do everyday anyway, we are getting ready to go to the States for Alaina's dedication. In addition to that, I am trying to get funding for things that my huband and I would like to be able to do for the unit of wounded warriors he commands. Getting funding is not as easy as one might think and getting things done with a baby along makes it more challenging. Anyway, we are so excited about the ideas we have and are eager to put them in to action. Please pray for wisdom for us as we try to have a positive impact on these soldiers lives.

Who Can Do It?

Click on this link. Take the challenge and then leave me a comment telling how well you did.

My Rant

I was just over at Making Home reading a very good post. It's about birth control. I personally don't have a problem with birth controll and believe that it's a personal decision between husband, wife, and God. However, the post put me in mind of something I've wanted to write about for some time. Professionalism seems to be a thing of the past. Everywhere you go people are just plain rude/and/or take liberties with how they treat others. I constantly hear complaints about how unprofessinal somebody was. I continually see unprofessional behavior everywhere I go. Society today is all too familiar. When I was a girl, children referred to adults outside of their families as Mr. Mrs. or Miss (that was before Ms). I would never have considered calling a friend of my mother by her first name. Nowadays children call adults by thier first names and don't even consider using a title. At businesses people no longer are respectful and kind. Instead they are rude as if they are doing you a favor for being there instead of you doing them the honor of using their business. People on the street assume they can and should address others by thier first names without asking. Nurses in the hospital address patients by their first name without permission. Patients insist on calling nurses by their first name. Doctors call everyone by thier first name but then insist on being addressed as "doctor". That is so wrong. If you want to be called by your title then you must refer to others by their title unless they ask you to use their first name. I feel that if we as a society would go back to addressing each other with respect a lot of the disrespect out there would go away, and a lot of the inappropriate conversations out there would stop. People you don't know or don't know well will ask you if you're husband is good in bed. Co workers tell you intimate bedroom details as if you wanted to know or talk about their many conquests publicly. Whatever happened to a lady/gentleman doesn't kiss and tell? If you have more than 2 children people tell you to stop it or ask you if you haven't figured out how that happens yet. If you have one child people ask you if you're having another and when. If you don't have children and you've been married more than a year people want to know when you are starting your family or what you're waiting for. If the person anwers that personal question indicating that they are trying or they do want kids they get bombarded with even more personal and completely rude questions about their sex life, positions, etc. Honestly! I have struggled with infertility and people ask me if it's me or him. If we are having enough sex. What positions are we using. Have we tried this or that. Are we going to try this or that. I have had complete and total strangers ask me things like this. I had one lady I had only just met who discovered Alaina is adopted say, "Why? Can't you have your own?" And she said that as if adoption is a lesser choice. My question to the nosy people is this. How is anyone else's family life any of your business? We have already had odd looks as we are raising our daughter to call our friends Mr. or Mrs. etc. calling a non family adult by their first name is not an option for her. She is also going to be learning insanity like yes sir and yes ma'am, and may I be excused. We apparently have lost our minds. I have always called my patients Mr. or Mrs. I do not allow a doctor to call me by my first name if I may not call him or her by his or her first name. If he asks may I call you Rebecca? I say sure if I can call you Fred or whatever the name might be. They might be a doctor, but that doesn't mean they derserve more respect as a person than I do. The same goes for a first meeting with a new GYN. He can meet me for the first time with my clothes on or he can choose to take his off and put a paper robe on and meet me that way. The same with ministers. If you call me by my first name expect me to call you by your first name and not pastor so and so. I had a pastor and his wife that I loved dearly, but they drove me nuts as they demanded to be called pastor and sister so and so while calling me and my husband by our first names. The pastor even told everyone from the pulpit that we are not allowed to use his wife's first name as she deserved our respect. I respected her very much and still do, but I do not agree with people holding themselves up as deserving more respect than others. I am an army wife. I refer to everyone by their title unless asked to do differently. If Col. so and so wants to call me Rebecca he had better expect to be called Jim. Otherwise he can call me Mrs. P. and I will call him Col. so and so. The same would go with president Bush. I will call him President Bush and he will call me Mrs. P. or it can be George and Rebecca. There, I've had my say.

Connie From Texas

I'm a little worried about Connie of Connie's Thoughts From The Heart. Her home was in the way of hurricane Ike. Has anyone heard from her or know anything about their current circumstances? Let's all say an extra prayer for her and her family today.

She's A Tough Cookie

My little girl is one tough cookie. We're all sick right now. Those colds have moved on to a sore throat for Alan, a sinus and ear infection for me and bilateral ear infections and a cold for Alaina. If it weren't for the snotty nose you just about wouldn't know she is sick. She is such a trooper! I knew she was a little whinier than usual but now that she is getting tylenol around the clock even that has cleared up. The doctor was quite surprised to see how great she was doing with both ears so yucky. I thank God that he has blessed me with such a tough little one and I thank Him that He has blessed Alaina with such a cheerful disposition even in the midst of illness. Thank you Lord!

The Previous Post

Jungle Mom posted the What spice are you thing in the post below but somehow I was unable to link to her on that post.

You Are Cilantro

The bad news is that there are some people who can't stand you. The good news is that most people love you more than anything else in the world. You are distinct, unusual, fresh, and very controversial. And you wouldn't have it any other way.

What Spice Are You?

Sarah Palin

I love the fact that she has been selected to run for vice president. I love the fact that she is a woman, wife and mother of 5. I love that she is the mother of a soldier, a special needs baby that she is still nursing (although with campaigning that may not last long I don't know) and though I hate the circumstances, I love that she can set the example for the nation in her response to her teen in trouble. To those who say she can't parent 5 children while being VP I say nonsense! She will only be parenting 3 children as her son is now in Iraq and her daughter will soon be married. Now that's not to say that once your children are out of your home you no longer interact with them, but it is to say that only 3 will be under her roof. Her husband will be there to parent them also and there is no indication that he is incapable of this. To those who are saying that it is unBiblical for her to be vice president I refer you to the Bible itself. Romans 13:1&2 "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling aginst what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves." NIV

I submit then that God set her in her postiton of authority as the governor of Alaska and I believe that if elected it will be by God's ordination. I personally believe that God has put her in this postion at this critical time in our country. My prayer is may God bless Sarah Palin. May God put His angels around her to protect her and her family and may God give her wisdom and the words to say when the tough questions come that His name will not be maligned.

Wifezilla

Alaina, Alan and I all have colds. How fun is that? Alaina is whiney and snotty and not old enough to blow her nose so if I don't catch it in time she wipes it with her hand and then wipes her hand on whatever happens to take her fancy. How fun is that I ask you? I'm hoping Connie from Texas is alright as her home apparently was in Ike's way. How rude of Ike. I was doing laundry earlier (still am) and cleaning bathrooms and decided that there is nothing sexy about cleaning toilets. Not that this is a revelation to many of you however I felt it needed to be said. I mention this because the first week or two after Alaina came home was exhausting. One day I looked in the mirror and realized that my husband had just come home from a long day at work and here I was with my hair a mess, no make-up, no shower and in ratty (but comfortable) clothes. I saw myself as I prayed he didn't but feared he did. At that point I decided that I needed to take/make the time to keep after my appearance. Not so much for vanity's sake as for Alan's sake. How awful to come home from a long day at work to a screaming baby, and your wife looking like godzilla. Well, thankfully the baby no longer spends much time screaming. She is much more interested in playing with her toys or getting into things she ought not to. I have done a pretty good job I think of keeping myself up so I always look presentable. It was just today as I was swishing the toilets that I decided there was just no way to look good doing that and if my husband were to see me doing it the last thing he would be thinking is boy is she hot! lol oh well. I'm sure he appreciates it getting done as much as he appreciates not having to see it.

September 11th - Where Were You?

Again we sadly observe the 7th anniversary of the terrorism of September 11th. I am sad today not only because of what happened then but because we as a nation have forgotten the terror of that day. We are busy screaming no racial profiling! Today I'd like us to remember where we were on that day. I was in bed in my apartment in Springfield, MO. I worked the evening shift in the burn unit of a hospital. My phone rang and it was my friend Carrie. She said someone flew a plane into one of the buildings of the World Trade Center. I thought, "who could be so stupid as to not see that building and fly right into it?" Carrie said she thought I might want to see what was on tv. I was going to go back to sleep but something told me get up and see this. I turned on the TV and a few minutes later saw the second plane crash in. At that moment I realized and thought, "Oh my God! We are under attack!" At work later that day I was there when we recieved a call asking us how many survivors we could take. We didn't end up taking any. Our chief of trauma who is with FEMA and was called to work the site said they thought there would be more survivors than there were. I remember the shock and the pain and the pride I had in the men who foiled the plane headed for the White House. They gave their lives for their country. They are true heros.

My husband's story is quite different. We had not met yet. He was in officer candidate school in Georgia. His group was out in the field on a training mission. They had been given a senario they were supposed to do. They were accustomed to surprises being thrown it as part of the training. Someone came out to the field and told them about the attacks. He said that if any of them had family in New York or Washington DC they were to try and contact their family to see if they were ok. He had brought a phone. My husband was from New York but he was unable to reach his mother. The training group thought this was a training surprise and were talking among themselves about what they might do. It wasn't until they were taken to the main gate (which was an open gate that anyone could come in and out of) and given M-16 with live ammunition. They were told what to do and that if anyone did not follow their orders they were to shoot to kill. You see they don't give you live ammunition in training senarios. That is when they knew it was real. Most of them had never seen combat before (many of them were prior enlisted) and had never been in a situation like it. Military life changed that day. Now we get searched etc. when going on post. No more open gate. No more easy military life. Now it's frequent deployments and everyone has seen combat.

So share with us. What were you doing and how were you feeling 7 years ago today?

Coupons

I have had some questions about how I do my coupons and how with the coming of Alaina I have time for it etc. So I decided that I would do a post about it.

I use a baseball card organizer. You get 9 coupon slots per page and the pages are a lot sturdier than photo album pages are. I keep my coupon center at my desk which is in the living room and where I spend a great deal of time. I have a small basket on my desk. As coupons pages come in they go in a stack to be cut out. Loose coupons go in the basket. When I am on the computer doing things it often takes time to download or upload or for a page to change or whatever. I use that time to cut out the coupons and put them in the basket. Then as I have time and as I'm waiting for things to upload, download etc. I grab a handful of coupons and sort them. I have my baseball card organizer divided and tabbed acording to the isles in the commissary I visit most often. That way as I am shopping I have it open to the section that corresponds to the isle I'm on. Even if I visit another store and it isn't set up the same way I know where things are in my commissary so it's easy to find the coupon I want. So, as I sort the coupons, I sort them according to the isle the item is in. I only do a handful or so at a time. Once they are sorted I put the isle one stuff in the isle one section etc. I also have each section divided but not tabbed into smaller sections. For instance in isle 4 they have nutritional supplements like slimfast and ensure, dental stuff, feminine hygiene products, all the baby stuff, medications, haircare, and body care like bar soap, body wash, lotions and face care products. So, in my organizer in section 4 the first page is nutritional supplement coupons, the next is dental products, then haircare coupons etc. each section has as many pages as is necessary. I make it easier on myself by putting all my coupons for the same product in the same slot. As in all my coupons for Cascade dishwasher detergent go in the same slot even if it's $1 off 2 or 25 cents off one or liquid vs powder vs packs etc. One thing that cuts down on having expired coupons in my book is that if the coupon is going to expire this month and it's something I need it goes in the stack of things I must get this trip. Otherwise it doesn't go in unless it's an exceptional coupon.

The benefit for me in doing things this way is that when I am in the store, and I see something on sale that I want, I already have a decent idea of what coupons I have so I can just turn to the page corresponding with the isle I'm in and see if there is a coupon and then pull out the one that gets me the best savings. As I pull them out to get one I weed out the expired coupons. ( I always wear something with pockets to the store. One pocket is for coupons to be used and one is for coupons to be tossed.)

I share my many coupons in several ways. One is that coupons for things I don't use I pull out and put on the shelf there with the product. For instance I don't use Tide but lots of people do. So I put all the tide coupons right there where others can be blessed by them. I don't do this with every coupon but I do it with ones for products I don't use and with coupons that are due to expire. Another way I share my coupons is that I bring my book to the support group I help to facilitate and PWOC. The ladies can see quickly what they want or don't want. The baby item coupons are always a hit. I also sometimes offer one to someone in the store who is stressing over the price of an item. I might offer it to them or I might just put it on the shelf by the product where she can see it.

As If!

I was watching some of the commentary today about Gov. Palin's speech last night. Obviously, as a rule, the Dems were dishing her and the GOP was praising her. The one thing I laughed at was (and I do forget who they are) the people watching for the Hollywood stars. They were laughing and making fun of the fact that there were few stars there and the ones that were there were B-list stars and below. Aside from laugher, my reaction was SO WHAT! Hollywood is not known for being overloaded with great thinkers! I would actually consider it a good thing that there were few of them there. I get a big kick out of the Democrats parading around their high school drop out Hollywood supporters as if they know anything more than the average American and we should all follow them. I really think the Democrats are scared out of their wits (both of them) about Gov. Palin. If they weren't they wouldn't be making such a fuss.

Punish?

Senator Obama says that if one of his daughters came home pregnant he wouldn't "punish" her with the baby. I'm intrigued. He proposes that the baby be punished for his daughter's mistake. He would rather put his daughter through a dangerous proceedure and kill her baby than have his daughter go through an unwanted pregnancy. Whatever happened to teaching your children personal responsibility? What ever happened to people facing the natural consequences of their actions? That is what Gov. Palin has done. Her daughter is taking responsibility for her mistake. She has chosen to marry the father of her child and raise her child with him. Sen. Obama deems that punishment, and he seems to be implying that Gov. Palin has pronounced this punishment on her daughter. Nonsense! No one can force anyone else to do something they don't want to do. Aside from that, have we all forgotten about adoption? Why couldn't any young woman in this position choose to give her child life and let some loving couple who wants a child adopt? What is wrong with him?

First Birthday!

Sunday was Alaina's first birthday. I can't believe it has already been a year since this wonderful child came into our lives. At her party there was a lady with a newborn. Looking at this baby I could hardly believe Alain was that small the first time I saw her. Sigh. I love her so. Here are some pics from the party. She is walking quite a bit now and soon will give up the crawling I'm sure. We have introduced the cup to her and she is getting the idea, so the bottle will likely be gone in a few months. Sigh. She is growing up so quickly.

Equal Rights For Women?

I have had several things on my mind for blogging lately. The first is equal rights for women. Now, I'm not a feminist although I do believe in equal pay for equal work done. I also believe in voting rights for women and that women can and should hold public office. What I take issue with is this equal rights agenda that the feminists are putting out there. Last week I was watching the Mike & Juliette show. They had a segment on about "manamony". Manamony is alimony for men. It's when the wife was making a lot more than the husband or even he is staying home and she is working. In the case of divorce she has to pay him a monthly amount of money instead of him paying her. They had several people on to talk about it and the thing that astounded me is that the women complained about having to pay! I have never heard of a woman complaining that she got alimony. One wife who had been married 10 years to her husband prior to divorce said she thought he had married her for her money and he shouldn't get it. She made millions per year. I don't hear women complaining about other women who marry men for their money. And in the past century they have been getting alimony. Now obviously I am not referring to everyone. I was really annoyed. They want equal rights. They want to wear pants and have the same jobs and get all of the benefits of being equal without any of the sacrifices. True equality would mean all women registering for the draft. It would mean women forced into combat. It would mean women paying alimony if the situation is appropriate. You wanted equal rights baby and now you can't handle the responsibility that comes along with that. Personally, I do not want equal rights. I'm too old I think, but I do not want my daughter to have to register for the draft or be forced into combat. These women want to have their cake and eat it too. Nonsense!

Preparations

Alaina's first birthday is on Sunday. This week has been full of preparations. Packages have been coming in from family in the States. Extra house cleaning. We had purposed to just have a few close friends over as she isn't really old enough to get the idea of her birthday and all. Well, it has all gotten blown way out of proportion. People ask us normal questions like when is her birthday. Then they ask the normal question of are you going to do a party or anything. I answer yes we are just going to have a few people and before I get the whole thing out they state that they are coming. I don't feel that I can say well we just wanted to keep it small etc. and so I'm looking at this as a wonderful opportunity to show hospitality. So now I've got like 50 people coming on Sunday from 2-5. I have managed to let people know that its not going to be a regular party with games and all. Just some food and a cake. Now I just need to get more food and more cake. Perhaps I'll bake some cakes instead of buying. I had ordered her a princess cake from the cake people on post. I ordered half a sheet cake. It's golden cake so I could bake a chocolate one and then there should be enough. And I already have cake mix and frosting in the house so it wont cost any exta. Otherwise I'm having my 7 quart crock pot full of lil smokies (beef) in barbque sauce, a veggie tray, a fruit tray, 2 varieties of chips with zaziki for dip, Corn chips with that dip you make with Velveeta and Rotel tomatoes, coke, coke zero, tea, water and juice boxes for the kids. I thought the juice boxes would be a lot easier and less mess so though it may not be as frugal as possible it works for me. If anyone has any more suggestions please let me know. I'm now worried that there wont be enough. I just wanted the day to be special for my little girl. Tomorrow we go to have professional pictures taken. Some of her for her first birthday and some family photos. So, today I need to get our outfits chosen and ironed and all ready to go.

The picture above is of Alaina after opening her first birthday present from Tia Fran. (My sister)

So many have come in and there will be more at the party so we decided she needed to start opening one a day or she would be crazy and not having fun. She loves her new toy as you can see from the big smile on her face.