Quit Whining

I did a lot of personal research on the candidates for this presidential election. I tried to be unbiased, but no matter what people say about the media, every author or speaker has his/her own opinion and it flavors the report. Personally, I didn't care for Obama or McCain. So to make my decision, I had to track their history of voting and stances on the things that are important to our family.

I'm proud to have been given my chance to vote, and I'm proud that I took that chance to make my voice heard. Regardless of who I voted for, the winner or the loser, I made my choice. So if I'm unhappy with how things turned out, I could grumble. If I'm happy about the results, I could throw a party. But what good would either of these things do? Neither a party nor a grumble shows any respect to the office of the President.

I have heard some McCain supporters say things like "Well, it's not my choice, but that's OK. I hope Obama does well." This is my personal stance. I had resolved, prior to voting, that whomever "wins" or "loses" would have my respect as the leader of my country, and I wished him well. I liked the McCain quote, where he said "I cannot wish my opponent luck, but I do wish him well." That's just it, you don't give luck to the guy you want to surpass, but certainly people should respect the hard work and energy that it took to get to even participate in the Presidential elections as a candidate.

I am making this post because I am so saddened to hear so many McCain supporters whining about the results and McCain's concession. I want to scream, because half of them didn't bother to make their voice heard at the polls, and the other half are acting all gloom and doom over this. I want to put them in a corner and tell them what I tell my toddler: "Quit whining. It will be over soon enough." If a person feels it so absolutely necessary to think that Barack Obama as President is a punishment, just wait 4 years and make your voice heard again. At worst, he will only be there for 8 years. 8 years sounds like a long time, but in the grand scheme of things, it's not so bad.

Honestly, to those that complain and those that say with absolute fear and dread in their hearts, "It's in God's hands now" or some similar statement, I say it has always been in God's hands. We may not be pleased with some of the political decisions he makes, but until he tries to burn Christians at the stake, we are not really in a bad place.

Consider: This country has had a rotation of presidents from day one. Liberals, conservatives, liberals, conservatives. It was about time for a liberal to have a turn trying to run the country. We've always bounced "back" from things in the past. Whether you agree with this side or that side, we will see another conservative in office soon enough. It scares me to hear the extremists on both sides talk, as if the first thing to happen will be assassination attempts regardless of who won.

I'm not upset by the outcome. I'm not pleased by the outcome. But I will respect the office of the President and I will respect Senator Obama as my president. All I am asking is that everyone else do the same. It will make for a more peaceful 4 years, in my opinion.

I am trying to teach this standard of respect to my kids. That a debate or a difference of opinion can go so far, but to watch how they speak. Whatever happened to the Golden Rule? Would some of my friends who speak so disdainfully of the candidate opposite of their choise want someone else to spread the same filth about them? I seriously doubt it. And I put that question to the candidates who chose to run smear campaigns instead of smart campaigns as well.

As for me and mine, we will serve the Lord. Above all else, we will serve the Lord and trust that he knows how to keep us afloat as a nation. Why is it so hard to find that trust in the Lord when things are going your way, but when things are harder or not coming out like you want them to, you turn to the Lord in prayers of dismay and dissapointment? Trust that HE WILL GUIDE US, always.

And now I shall jump off my soapbox and return to my typical amusing posties tomorrow. :)

what a day!

I'm done. This day...wow!
The day started out all right, everybody was happy and slept within the marginal terms of "good." Or "well" if you prefer proper grammar. I had to run to the drugstore and to the doctor's office with a question. So I wound up having to bring Joshua in to be seen due to a rash on his face that is either an infection or a latex allergy, and she's not commiting to either one, so he gets antibiotics. Wheeeee.
But, still. OK. I knew I had to run to the store for a bit(out of formula), as well as pick up the prescription, so I had planned a busy afternoon.

I got locked in Joshua's bedroom, instead.

To preface, this door did not have any doorknob on it when we moved in. Neither did the closets in that room, so we assumed they had taken them off for the safety of a small child. Joshua has yet to discover his bedroom door, and we've been here for two months. Given his "doh" fascination, this is surprising, but there it is. Well, Holley was asleep in the living room and I went in with him to mess around with some stuff. I needed to put something on the wall behind his door, so I say "Go ahead, close the door." He closed the door. Then we couldn't get back out. Whoever took the doorknobs off, LEFT the latching/locking mechanism on the stupid door! I couldn't get a good enough gribp on the edges to pull the thing enough to bend the lock, and I had child-proofed Joshua's room. Wait. The closet! I had some small storage stuff in his closet! Hmmm....let's see. Christmas wrap. No. Gift bags. Maybe....try that, nope. Empty guitar hardshell case. Well, that's not going to pick a lock. The rest is out-of-season clothing. hmmm. well....there are safety pins on the corners of his bed tent! The door broke the head off as I was trying to pick the lock. Sigh. The window! There's a safety guard on it, but if I can get that off, I can jump out and ring the doorbell until the landlady answers it and helps me! OK, who the heck screwed the safety gate onto the window? I don't have a screwdriver!! Holley has awakened. She's crying and upset. Start to panic about the fact that it's nearly 3 hours or more until Shaun gets home! Yell out the window. "HELLO? I NEED HELP!! HELLO? ANYBODY? HELLO????" The guitar case. Joshua stands at the window yelling "H'WO? H'WO???" That guitar case would make a great battering ram! Yeah, good idea, poor execution. It didn't work. Start crying with Holley. Back to the window to yell for help. The landlady(who lives right upstairs) is home. Finally I hear from the upstairs window. "Megan? Do you need something?" Uh, yeah. HELP. duh. Freakin' out, I just asked her to please come and get the baby and help me get out. She does, of course, and calmed Holley, then picked the lock with a knife from the kitchen. And thank goodness she was home. She said "I thought I heard something funny." Oh well. At least she could come and get me out. Holley had wet and was hungry! poor thing. Shaun came home from work and fixed the rest of it(read:removed)


So, Okay, by the time I calmed down, Shaun was almost off of work. So I go get him and we head to the shopping plaza, where EVERYONE IS SOLD OUT OF MY FORMULA. Holley has a low tolerance for the other kinds. Great, now I'm just irritated. We bought a can of the Enfamil brand equivalent, but we will see. Some kids can go back and forth, but Holley can't even tolerate the powder, so we aren't sure about this. And when I asked if I could order two cases ahead---(that's twelve bottles, we do one bottle per day), they tell me that they do do pre-orders or order in any especially for a customer. Shoot me now. We have to go back out tomorrow and pick some up from Target, who usually is the only place that has plenty.

With everything that went on today, I remembered to bake bread, but forgot to make supper so we had peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for dinner. ha ha ha.

By the way, the images today are of Joshua at 2 months old and Holley at 4 months(well, today). Both barely fit into the snowsuit at these respectable marks, but I wanted the matching pictures!