Flying to NY for Thanksgiving

So, we are getting ready to fly out to NY early Monday morning. It's been a long time since I've flown on an airplane, and now there are a lot of new rules, like 3 oz. bottles in quart size zip lock bags in the carry-ons, and wearing slip on shoes to make it easier to take your shoes off to go through security, and not getting fed on the plane without paying extra...what's up with that? So, Bruce and I are taking only carry-ons, so we don't have to fool around with checking our luggage. I still have memories of our luggage getting lost in Minneapolis about 10 years ago, and we catch a connecting flight in Minneapolis. So, we will travel light, and do laundry and Tom and Amanda's. We went shopping for snacks, and will probably break down and actually buy some water on the plane. Our flight leaves from Denver at 6:30 am on Monday morning, so we will be leaving here about 3 am, that means early to bed tomorrow. Tom and Amanda have lots planned for us. We are excited, and especially excited to spend time with Lucy. There will be lots to write about when we return.

Sleep

Sleep is a funny thing. If you don't get enough of it, you feel exhausted and crabby. If you get too much of it, you feel guilty, because you've wasted time you could've spent doing something important...like cleaning house or doing laundry. So, the older you get, the more guilty you feel, because as you get older, you need more sleep, but it also takes longer to do all of those mundane household tasks. So, if you sleep as much as you want to, you don't feel crabby and exhausted for lack of sleep, but instead you feel crabby because you have a dirty house and no clean clothes to wear. You see, you can't win...it's a vicious cycle. I'm tired...I think I'll go to bed now.

Patriotism in the Classroom

I am a substitute school teacher. Today I taught Mrs. Hooey's first grade class at Springs Ranch Elementary. I had an experience today that renewed my faith in the school system, or at least in good teachers who try hard to teach their students correct principles. This morning as the students all stood to recite the Pledge of Allegiance, I was impressed with the respect that these little first graders showed, all standing at attention to the flag with their small hands over their hearts as they repeated the Pledge in unison. Observing this kind of respect is not always the case in many of the classes I teach. As I began to turn away after they had finished, the students remained standing with their hands over their hearts and began to sing our national anthem, "The Star Spangled Banner," word for word from the beginning to the end. I began to sing along, but could not finish, as I began to cry. I was so impressed with the fact that a teacher had taken the time to teach these young impressionable students the "Star Spangled Banner" and what it means to be patriotic and a true American citizen. Thank you, Mrs. Hooey for a job well done!

A Day at the Temple

I can imagine that on Friday evening there was a joyous reunion in heaven. After 14 years of being apart, my parents are once again back together. On Friday, I spent all day at the temple doing my mother's temple work, so the family could be joined together. My mother is now sealed to her parents, my mom and dad are now sealed together, and I am sealed to them. It was a happy day, and it brought comfort and peace back to my soul, after some difficult weeks. How grateful I am for the knowledge that we can be together as families forever, not just this life.

I am an American

I am not usually one that comments or has discussions about controversial subjects, such as politics, but yesterday our country voted in a new president, which has made me ponder much about my feelings concerning the matter. Let me preface my thoughts with the fact that I do not consider myself prejudiced, I have never been, nor do I ever intend to be. Also, I am a true AMERICAN through and through. My mom and dad became naturalized American citizens in the 60’s after moving here from Canada. My dad, especially, was very proud of being an American. I remember him tearing up every time he heard the national anthem. I think I inherited my pride for America from him. However, both of my parents were very prejudiced—I’m not sure why, but they were, even though they didn’t always admit it. I remember my mom always referring to blacks as “colored.” I would then ask her, “What color are they—pink, yellow, brown, red, blue?” She would get irritated with me. I think one reason why I am not prejudiced is because both of my parents were, and I hated that characteristic about them.

With that being said, I would like to discuss my take on the latest election. Yesterday, I spent 14 hours at our precinct polling place as an election judge. It was refreshing to see people come in to exercise their right to vote without being subject to the constant negative campaigning from both sides. As an election judge, you cannot discuss political preferences or have political discussions, even though we did know that only one of our judges was democrat. You have to have both major parties represented at each precinct. I was working next to a delightful little 75 year old black lady, who was our only democrat. I had no idea how she voted; I only know that she was as disgusted as I was with all of the negative campaigning. We talked about religion, we talked about families, we talked about education…she was wonderful. So, when I got home, and started watching the election returns on TV, I knew that my candidate had lost, and that we had elected the first “African American” president in our country’s history. I did not vote against him because of his color, but because I felt that his values did not reflect mine. Regardless of that, now that he is our president elect, my question is… Why do we have to keep referring to blacks as “African Americans?” I do not refer to myself as a Norwegian American, or a Hungarian American, or a Canadian American, or even a Caucasian American. I am only an AMERICAN. So why can’t African Americans just call themselves Americans like the rest of us? And why is it when a white American has something negative to say about an African American or Hispanic individual, we are considered racist? But if a black person does the same about a white person, they are not considered racist? I would certainly hope that now that we have elected a black president that the black community will stop thinking that they have it any worse than the rest of us. If anything good comes out of this election, I hope that we can now become a nation of diversified citizens all becoming merely AMERICANS and working together for the common good of our country.

My next reflection is about this country of ours being founded upon Christian values, including the sanctity of life. That is very important to me as a Christian, and I have difficulty supporting someone who does not respect those values. I will respect the office of the President of the United States, not necessarily the individual who holds that office. I don’t think any of us really know enough about the man to know what will happen after he takes office. That’s a little scary to me. I certainly hope that Mr. Obama will listen to the citizens of this great country of ours. I will continue to pray in his behalf and for those individuals who work with him.

Daylight Savings Time

If this picture looks dark, it's because IT IS DARK!!! And it's only a little after 6 pm. We started standard time again on Sunday, and now it will take until next April to get used to the time. Just as you get adjusted, you will once again have Daylight Savings Time and have to adjust all over again. I HATE DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! Thanks to good ol' Benjamin Frankliln, we have to put up with it. There was one good thing about living in Arizona...NO DAYLIGHT SAVINGS TIME! I'm sorry, that still wasn't enough to keep us there, but it was something that it had going for it. So, anyway...last Saturday night Bruce went to bed early, of course, and left me to turn all the stinkin' clocks and the programmable thermostat back one hour (remember, "fall back" and "spring forward"). I wonder who the clever person was that thought of that little reminder. So, for the last two mornings I have been waking up at 6 am instead of 7 am, even when I don't have to, because that's when my body says to wake up. Two years ago, Bruce and I ended up going to church an hour early and wondering where everyone was. After being here for almost 4 years, I still get confused with the whole thing. Thanks Ben for your great idea. We're not all farmers, you know.

Halloween

Our neighbor three houses down from us always goes all out for Halloween. These are just a couple of the pictures from his place. Since Eddie had to work tonight, Paula brought Lexi over, so she could do the trunk or treat at the church and then they came over to do trick or treating at a few of the neighbor's homes. She looked so adorable in her little Yoda costume. Bev came over and we had our annual viewing of "Hocus Pocus" and popcorn. We never get too many trick or treaters, so we finished up the little candy we bought as an extra Halloween treat...at least I got my chocolate fix!