Five Things I Am Thankful For

• I am thankful for a husband who loves me and supports me despite my often selfish and erratic ways. And I love him.
• I am thankful that I get to be Jack's mom. What a funny, smart, creative, tenderhearted boy he is! I sure don't want him to grow up too fast, but I am so curious about the man he will become.
• I am thankful to know so many amazing people--family and friends--who teach me so much. I am so often truly inspired by you all!
• I am thankful that the challenges in my life are rooted in abundance rather than scarcity. My prayer is to turn the temptation to eat too much, to revel too much in the comforts of my life and to feel overwhelmed by all of the stuff we own into fuel to feed a generous, giving spirit.
• I am thankful that my parents set me on a spiritual path that keeps me committed to wrestling with faith, hope and charity.

What Would a Sick Day Be Like without Star Wars?

So this is what we've been watching at our house today. Jack came home school early with a cold, no friends allowed. We had to fight a bit of boredom. I also had him build a space ship out of a pile of Legos and he had to use every piece. He had a two hour deadline, but completed it in just over an hour. Then he spent the rest of the afternoon embellishing it. We've got a long evening ahead of us.

Who Am I? Part One

Since blogging is substantially a narcissistic activity, I thought I'd indulge in a bit of self exploration. The reason? I never quite know how I fit into this world. 

I'm an easterner in the west. I'm the mother of an only child in community of larger than average families. I'm pretty sure I'm the only woman in my neighborhood who has never given birth. I'm a moderately left of center gal in one of the reddest counties in one of the reddest states in the union. I was one of the only Mormons in my school growing up. There are no Mormons in my extended family, but I married into a family with pioneer stock on both sides. I could go on.

Why do I always feel different? Is it just the human condition? Or is there something special about my situation?

Today's explanation: I am generation-less.

The baby boomer generation consists of people born between approximately 1945 and 1960. Generation X consists of people born between approximately 1965 and 1980. I was born in 1963.

What on earth does that make me?

Country First

A part of me longs to be in a place where people are celebrating Obama's election. It would be so much easier and so much more fun. But a deeper part of me senses that I need to be here in this place at this time.

I feel blessed that my first impression of Obama was his commitment to listening, thinking and finding common ground. I have viewed him for years through that lens. Of course he's not perfect and I don't agree with everything he says and does. But I think it's tragic that the first impression of Obama many people have had is that he is suspiciously foreign and possibly anti-American. Viewing him through that lens distorts him beyond my recognition.

In the past three days I have had conversations and heard comments that have absolutely dripped with anger and fear and all sorts of misconceptions. "I have a sinking feeling in my stomach that can only compare to 11 September 2001." "My mother says that Obama is the anti-Christ," "If Obama gets elected he's going to start killing all of the two year old children." "I'm going to move to Canada because Obama is a socialist and a Marxist [I had to laugh at the irony of that comment!]" "It's all over now." "I hope some nutcase assassinates him."

It makes my heart hurt.

But it also drives me to open my mouth. I can't sit idly by.

Today I was eating lunch with some of the faculty at Springville High. Like me they've been worried about all of the hateful and fearful remarks. I imagine most if not all of them voted for McCain and are disappointed he lost. But they are working hard to help the students understand the genius behind the way our government is set up--checks and balances, frequent elections, etc. They said they've been telling students that we've survived bad presidents before, that we can endure for four years, that there will be a mid-term election that will give us a chance to shift the balance in Congress.

I finally spoke up and said, "And we can tell them that Obama may just be a good president!"

For the sake of our nation, don't we need to give him that chance?

I call on all of my dear friends and family who supported McCain, who are devastated that he lost and who may actually fear an Obama presidency. If you truly believed in McCain's campaign for presidency, please continue to embrace his campaign mantra "Country First."

You may want Obama to fail mightily, but his failure would be our failure, and in these difficult times we can't afford that.

We can and should work together to make the next four years a success.

Of course we must all be vigilant in fighting for policies and political principles we believe in. Every president should be held accountable and should be watched and pushed to do what we feel is right. 

But when he is sworn in, please honor the presidency and remember that Obama is our democratically elected leader. 

I am full of hope. I believe all of us can be. Yes we can.

Life Is Good

I'm feeling so much better after being under the weather for weeks. Monday morning I woke up without a fever, and I've got my brain back! I'm pacing myself, but I'm feeling optimistic.

Somehow we made it though Halloween without taking a single photograph of Jack dressed up as Indiana Jones! Above is a photo of Jack taken earlier this year (thus the green leaves on the trees and the roof off the jeep), wearing one (!) of his Indiana Jones hats and the shirt we custom tore for him. He is sans the questy map case with the leather strap that he wears across his chest, but you might be able to see the whip he's holding in his right hand.

I am so happy to report that I only have a handful of essays in my "to be graded" folder for my UVU classes (I'll be making quick work of those after I'm done posting here).

I am so happy to report that Jack woke up on his own for the past two days. And with the newly fallen snow on the ground, I didn't have to ask him twice to get dressed. He was out the door to check out the snow before the school bus came, so I didn't even have to drive him to school!

I am so happy to report that the bond election for a new library in Springville passed with flying colors. This will be so good for our community on so many levels!

Oh, and Obama will be the 44th president of the United States. I'm still pinching myself.