Nidhi - Desi (and not) art I love

I have a big, gaping hole on my pretty gray wall (that most people think is purple, and that I usually feel the need to correct them that it's gray, even though what's the big deal). I've shared my many rules about artwork and I've also shared how I'm cheap. So, mostly, I browse Etsy for cute things, then decide I can make it myself.

Not this time.

This time, I fell so in love with something that I can NOT do myself that happens to meet my rules. (Specifically, that it can't just be pretty - it must be sentimental or meaningful).

Let me introduce you Nidhi, my new favorite artist/illustrator and her amazing Etsy shop.

Nidhi was born in Calcutta and raised in California, and her so much of her work reflects the beauty of Indian culture. Her characters are adorable and her artistry is impeccable; things like lighting and coloring and all those things that if I knew more about, maybe I could draw things like this myself. (probably not, though)

Anyway, do you want to see what I just bought?

and

I wanted to buy more, like:

and

(My birthday's coming up.)

Well, if you hurry over there, enter the code LOVING for 10% off before Friday.

What do you think? Do you love this as much as I do? Which one is your favorite? Do you have other favorite Desi artists?

Tips Needed: Fair Trade, Sustainable, Empowering Businesses

Last year, my friend sent me one of my most favorite gifts ever: a bag from sari bari. Sari Bari is a safe home in India where women who have been exploited by the sex industry can be healed, restored, and where they can create a new life. One of the ways they do this (practically and symbolically) is through their business where they take old, worn-out saris and create beautiful bags and blankets out of them. The products are sold at a fair price, giving these women income, purpose and hope.

One of the best details of a Sari Bari bag is that it bears the name of the woman who created it. Every time I  look at my bag I think of the artist behind it and the steps she has taken to create a new life for herself, and I am inspired.

Anyway, are there any companies you love that follow a similar model? Any companies where when you buy from them, you get the sense you are participating in something really amazing? I'd love you tips!

Where are you from? I'm from Ohio.

So, Ben and I *may* have gotten into an argument over the weekend because when someone asked him where he was from, he didn't say Ohio.

Clearly, I *may* have been being a little oversensitive. (Sidenote: I'm pretty sure "been being" is not proper English... Abby? Mrs. Heath? When did I lose my ability to write a proper sentence? Oh yes, sometime around the day I first started this blog.)

But, let me make my case anyway.

First of all, though neither of us grew up here, we've lived here for 8 years. EIGHT YEARS. We've had babies here, built a house here, screwed up our taxes every single year right here in America's heartland.

Second of all, though this might not be fair, I'm not really "from" anywhere else anymore. That's a-whole-nother story, but the bottom line is that the only place I have left to be "from" is here. And if I can't be from anywhere else, Ben doesn't get to be either.
What? I admitted it wasn't fair, but marriage isn't fair.

Thirdly, how many years do you need to be married to be "from" the same place?

Ohio is the best place anyone could ever be "from." It has given us the best years of our lives, and the least we could give back is some pride in claiming it as OURS.

If you're not from Ohio - heck, even if you are - you might have been programmed to believe that Ohio is not a cool place to be "from." Oh, how wrong you are. Now, to be fair, I can't speak for the whole state. I hear Cleveland is kind of a depressing place what with LeBron peacing out and the whole Lake Effect weather thing they've got going on. But here in the Miami Valley, we've got a lot to cheer you up.

Here are some highlights:

• We don't have traffic. If you hit traffic, start praying, because it means that someone got into an serious accident up ahead, and that's why things are slowing down.
• We can park in actual parking lots. There's only one place I go that has parking meters, and those are for charity, and you don't actually get a ticket if you don't put money in.
• Being in the middle of the country, many regional fast food favorites have eventually migrated here, including my favorites - Chik-fil-a, Sonic, and Five Guys, as well as Tim Horton's which made it here from Canada. (Full Disclosure: Dunkin Donuts hasn't shown up on the scene yet, which is profoundly disappointing.)
• Sure our economy is in the toilet, but housing doesn't get much cheaper. 
• Renewing your license at the DMV takes about 6.3 minutes.
• Graeter's 
• Cheap and easy ways to learn anything you'd ever want to know.
• Readoption is a piece of cake. A few forms, one check, no court appearances, and BAM - your kid born in Rwanda officially gets a new name and a birth certificate. Sure it's a little anticlimactic. I almost asked the lady behind the window to find a gavel she could bang or something to make it all more momentous, but instead decided to count my blessings and sing the praises of Greene County.
• It's a swing state, which makes election years so much more exciting, and I'd like to think also makes my vote count more.

There's more, but the basic gist is that Southwestern Ohio is a cheap and easy place to live, with lots of good fast food. 

Plus, I'm from here, which if you're married to me, is a good reason to be "from" here too.

By the way, this post is in no way a joke. I really love it here. Laugh all you want, just don't make me move.

Once was blind but now I see and other Happy Thoughts

Color Me Katie asked what makes me happy (I'm sure she was talking directly to me), and since this week was full of happiness, here's my list:

1) Three kids who were each "made" in different places

2) My Baby's first haircut.

3) Father's Day (Long white gloves used to make me happy... sadly, that is no longer true)

4) Going from this:

to this:

to this:

to Perfect Vision! Thank you Dr. Stahl for that creepy Lasik procedure that has changed my life!

Also....this picture makes me really happy:

Library Day

Oh, yes, there is still more to talk about regarding racial and cultural bias - aren't you excited? - but tomorrow is a big day here at Camp Chaos. It's Library day.

Basically, it's Library Day because we have about 10 overdue library books that I was too lazy to take back AND too lazy to renew online, even though it takes about 6 seconds.

I think subconsciously I've also been putting Library Day off because we got a good batch of books this month, and I'm a little sad to take them back. Our library has several branches, two of which we often frequent. One, in the "nice" town by Simon's school has a great story time room, but no books on display. Librarians, I don't know if you realize what a serious problem this is. First of all, story time is doable for families with two kids max, so we're out. (As an aside, since you changed your hours to be decidedly unfriendly to small children, story time is out for us even if I did have the mental energy to parent three kids through music, dancing, sitting still, and crafts.)

Secondly, it's great that your children's section has 8,000 books stuffed into the shelves. I'm sure that about 5,000 of them are good books. BUT, I do not have the time to weed through the other 3,000 annoying books to find them, and it is way too difficult to judge a good book by a 1/4" spine.

What makes a children's book annoying? I'm so glad you asked. In general, I'd say any of the following:

• No words. If I wanted to make up a story, I wouldn't have drug my three kids to the library.
• Too many words. Simon gets three books before naptime. Too many words throws our whole schedule off. Plus, he's old enough to know when I'm skipping.
• No rhythm. I like rhyming. But, if you can't rhyme, then at least have at least some rhythm to the story. These are kids for goodness sake - they can read novels when they're old enough to read to themselves.
• Bad illustrations.
• Preachy-ness. 
• Full of jokes that go way over the head of your average pre-schooler. I just imagine the author chuckling to himself over how clever he is while I have to take the time to explain it all to my four-year-old, who will never think it is funny.
• No story. Seriously. My pet peeve is the one thousand "books" taking up space on the shelves that are full of stock photos with one-word labels. Those aren't books, those are flash cards, and they are not creative, which means they are a waste of story time.

This brings me to my favorite library branch which is in my town, which is often seen as the poor little stepsister to the nice blue-ribbon-town up the road where there are no books on display at the library. This library is my favorite because there are shelves for books to be displayed, so I can actually see the covers, giving me a better ability to judge the potential annoying-ness of the book before I take it home.

Also, I imagine that the kind and knowledgeable librarians at my library take the time to display the books that they like. They are often seasonal, or new, or by notable authors. It gives me a place to start from when selecting my books. I am rarely disappointed when selecting books from the display shelves.

Here's a sampling of what we will be taking back today. I am so hopeful that we stock up with books that we love just as much (except for the ones that I hated)....

The Fartiste

Maybe you don't approve of potty humor at your house, but I don't really mind it. This book is hilarious, and it's a true story which makes it educational, right? Simon picked this one out all by himself, and he especially loved having his Pop-Pop, Grandma, and uncles read this one to him. He calls it the "Tooting Book." It's cleverly written, it rhymes, and the illustrator is really talented: bonus points all around. Plus, it's about a guy who farts, and it manages to seem "smart."

Super Duck

I guess it doesn't take much to please me - rhyming and good illustration do it every time. Simon likes these books, and I have fun reading them to him. Maybe today I'll look for some more duck books that we haven't checked out yet.

How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?

I L.O.V.E. these Dinosaur books. The illustrations are so clever, and detailed. The words rhyme. The story isn't preachy or cheesy, but it's full of meaning. This one is about how the parent loves the dinosaur even when the dinosaur is being naughty or mean. My favorite page has a mom yelling at her dinosaur to stop dragging his feet, and the illustration captures the mom's annoyance so well, that Simon stares at the picture in utter understanding.

Namaste

I try to get the kids books about places we've been, but this is the first picture book I found about Nepal. Simon didn't get all that into it, but I liked the exploration of the greeting, "Namaste," or "The light in me meets the light in you."

Four Feet, Two Sandals

I checked out this sweet book about two girls in a Pakistani refugee camp in an effort to help my kids understand more about the world around them - especially the parts we don't like to talk about. I'm trying to do a better job of exposing Simon to suffering in a way that doesn't give him nightmares. He ended up really enjoying this story, even though I think a lot of its deeper meanings went over his head. Either way, now he knows that in many places in the world people have to run away from their homes in fear, and I think he's old enough to start engaging with things like that.

Monster Sleepover

This book is a perfect example of everything I hate in children's books. It doesn't rhyme. Its jokes are stupid and too old for young kids. It's not clever or witty. A 7 or 8 year old who reads to himself and is into monster humor might like this. You know who else might like this? A four-year-old whose Mom hates it but reads it to him every day anyway.

So, what do you recommend we pick up this week?

Q: What could be crazier than me not washing my hair?

A: Me joining a gym.

You guys, I know. Shut up. I know I have an ellipitical machine and weights, and a certified personal trainer --- all living in my basement.

But, I'll go ahead and tell you what I really need to get over my hatred of exercise. I need the frou-frou stuff. The perks. I need something good on tv. And, I need someone to watch my kids, because I do not use my free time (naps) to do anything I don't love to do (work out, clean, read a boring book).

So, there's this gym. It's not the most convenient gym for me, but it's freaking awesome. It's huge. It has more cardio machines than Kroger has carts. It has a pool and spinning and classes and a basketball court. Ooooooh, and each of those cardio machines has its own cable tv.

It has a movie theater - different movie every day with exercise machines parked in front of it. In the dark, so that if you decide to just sit on the bike, rest your heels, and watch the flick, no one can really see you. I'm just saying, if.

It has childcare. We call it Playland. It's pretty awesome. Sy (my child that is just now coming out of a 4-year bout with separation anxiety) begs to go every day. It's like the playland at Chick-fil-a, but the kids are less chicken-y, and the toys get cleaned twice a day.

I've driven by this gym for a while now, coveting. Thinking, if I HAD to work out, that's where I would go. But, people, we can't afford that. Well, now I can. It costs me $30 a month to work out, watch cable, put my kids in childcare, take classes, and get some gosh-darn time to myself. I'd say that's more than worth it.

I'm now obsessed with working out (call it what you will, but that's what I call riding a bike and watching tv at the same time).

Being the cheapskate that I am, I am determined to make each and every cent worth it. I am taking advantage of everything they have to offer. I might start going twice a day to take advantage of both childcare hours.

I took a class today. It was called Urban Iron, and it was my first group exercise class EVER. I went to pick Taly up from Playland, and my arms turned to jello and I couldn't lift her. So, I guess I'm going to have to come up with a new strategy for that.

My next goals at the gym are to take advantage of Aqua fitness classes, and spinning classes. Spinning is just at a rough time for me to squeeze in, but I'm going to make it work one of these days. Aqua fitness sounds interesting to me, but the swimwear/waxing/shaving situation seems like it will take some advance preparation.

By the way, everyone, thanks for laughing with/at me and my hair-washing escapades. I have to report that I have gotten an abnormal amount of compliments on my hair lately. Shampoo works wonders.

Owning my "It"

Did you know that this is NaBloPoMo, or National Blog Post Month? This month, bloggers are supposed to post every day for 30 days. I hear it's fun. I failed on day 2. Kirsten is giving it a go, though, so go read about her cute family while I slack off.

Anymommy, who is also on a NaBloPoMo writing streak, had a great post today about the age-old "How Do You Do It All" question. The answer is, of course, not doing it ALL, but doing IT, whatever your It is. Her It does not involve cooking dinner.

It was really a freeing/guit-inducing/self-realizing few minutes to think about what my It is, and what my It isn't. Have I lost you with all of the Its? Bear with me. Or not - there are other bloggers posting every day this month if you get bored.

I have long been a proponent of the idea that something has to give. Yes, I can give you a clean house and healthily-fed children, but in exchange you will get a very cranky, Type-A, overly-focused, no-fun-at-all Mommy.

I can give you creative crafts and freedom for playing, but in exchange you get a house strewn with yarn and tiny pieces of paper plates that have been cut with safety scissors.

I can give you time outside for bikerides and trips to the park, but in exchange you get frozen pizza for dinner - the cheap kind.

I have been learning to continue to pursue personal growth (how can I become better at the things I really enjoy doing) while I embrace my It. I just got through the whole Martha Stewart Living magazine in 16 minutes, because I skipped over all of the projects and recipes that just would not be a reality for me.

So, here's my It:
I don't clean. I've been getting better, but if you stop by and the house is spotless, it was Ben. If you stop by and there are at least two clean surfaces (for example one counter and the kitchen floor, or the table and the living room floor, or the dishwasher is empty and groceries are put away), then there's a good chance I have worn myself out with my cleaning efforts.

My It no longer involves coupons. A little, but not a lot. My It involves Trader Joes, and my happiness with the food I buy and my budget have both improved. Shopping has become a fun family activity, and I feel less guilty about frozen meals when they say "organic" or "natural" or something like that on the label. Also, I feel like from buying from a smaller chain, I am contributing less to the monstrosity that is our food industry. I may be wrong on most counts, but I am right about the parts about it being more fun and less money, and that's enough for me.

My It involves very little time spent on the floor playing. My It involves more trips to the library and the museum than to the basement. I like to get out.

My It involves obsessively checking my email, my reader, and facebook. My It involves PBS Kids so I can do those things.

My It involves having a lot of people over a lot of the time into our messy house. My It involves trying to cook for those people, because I really enjoy it. 

My It currently involves a lot of felt, a new sewing machine, and stacks of pool noodles as I attempt to make some special Christmas gifts for the little ones in my life. My It does not involve organizing those things or putting them away.

What's your It? Are you still trying to find it, like me? Have you embraced it? Or, are you really able to do It All?

Simon Says....so Mommy shouldn't, and other random things

Nearing the end of a rough day, I needed my daughter (who had just pooped in a bathtub full of toys) to come into the living room.

I stood outside the bathroom door, watching her try to get the toys I was soaking in disinfectant. Repeatedly, with increasing volume, I heard myself shouting things like,
"Talya come here!"
"Taly you need to come to Mommy!"
"Sweetheart please come"
and probably something along the lines of
"Dangit Mommy is tired, would you just get over here?!?!"

After watching me suffer, Simon summoned all his four-year-old wisdom and suggested, "Mommy, you just go. She'll follow you."

I stormed into the living room, followed by my suddenly obedient daughter and know-it-all son. He looked at me and said, "Mom, are you having a rough time?"

**************

Quick commercial:

I made these hobby horses for my kids today. 

They LOVE them. I got the directions here, linked to by Lier at Ikat Bag, who has inspired me to create things for my kids. She does it much better than I - but I have fun looking.

**************

Back to today's topic of things Simon says and things I shouldn't.

I am now watching my language. It's taken four years, but my son has finally picked up on my potty mouth. Really, I don't say anything that bad, but when Sy was born, I promised Ben that when our innocent baby started saying "sucks" "crap" and "pissed off," I would try to stop.

Well, he did, and I'm trying. Simon is holding me accountable - very vigilantly I might add. So "stinks," "shoot," and the all-purpose "ugggghhh" are making their way back into my vocabulary from wherever I left them in 8th grade.

While we're on the topic, Ben also thinks that "Dangit" is inappropriate. I wholeheartedly disagree. What do you think?

(I find that it's generally healthy to poll the internet world when I disagree with my husband, don't you?)

*******************

Yesterday, Simon came into the kitchen and said, "Mommy, can I have some beer?" Being that we don't keep alcohol in the house, neither of us like beer, and I haven't had one since trying to impress an older-than-me ex-boyfriend years ago, I was a bit surprised.... and ready to call his preschool and find out who brought what to show & tell.

"Where did you learn about beer?" I asked Simon as casually as I could.

"From you."

Okay. So I won't be calling the preschool.

"Remember when we were watching tv and we saw...." He proceeded to recount a public service announcement we saw months ago about drunk driving. At the time, he asked like a thousand questions, which I tried to answer as simply as possible. But you try to explain drunk driving to a four-year-old and not have it come back to bite you in the butt.

I have a feeling Sy's preschool will be calling me. That would suck.

See ya, or as Sy has lately taken to saying, 

Peace out Suckas.

Road-Tripping Lessons

As if a journey half-way around the world wasn’t stressful enough, we decided that two weeks upon arriving home, we’d pack up the van and drive out West to the Rockies. We have a conference out here. It’s only about a week long, but we pay for our apartment for a month, so we figured we might as well make it worth it.

Notice: If you are creepy and scoping out for people who mention they are out of town, I’ll have you know our house is being lived in by people, and I’m pretty sure they are armed and dangerous. Also, as you’ll see from this post, we packed absolutely everything we own in the van, so there’s nothing left to rob. Okay? Thanks.)

Here are the things I’ve learned along the way:

1. When packing, I will fill up however much space I’m given. If I’m going to India for a year and can only bring 6 suitcases, that’s all I’ll bring. If I’m going to Colorado for a month, I will pack stuff into every crevice of the minivan.

2. The road from Ohio to Colorado is very long and boring. Beautiful yes, but no one needs that many hours of beautiful corn.

That being said, Iowa is my new favorite state. The rest stops in Iowa are amazing – they are clean, some have play areas, and they have free WiFi. It might seem odd to pick a favorite state based on rest areas, but driving for 24 hours with kids rearranges your priorities.


3. Embassy Suites? Are you reading this? I love you. We spent the night at the Embassy Suites in Omaha because my husband knows I love hotels – in America, which are not the same at all as hotels in, say, India (at least not the ones we stay in – they have very nice ones, but they cost a lot of rupees).

I love fluffy pillows and not cleaning up after myself. I love clean bathrooms. Say what you want about germs in hotels, but that bathroom was WAY cleaner than my bathroom at home. I love cable. I love eating pizza in bed because the sheets will be washed tomorrow anyway.

On top of all the regular hotel goodness, the Embassy Suites is PERFECT if you have kids.

When I was little, my parents used to take us to the Embassy Suites for mini-vacations. We would swim in the pool, and spend hours racing around the halls. One of those races ended very badly, but time has healed all wounds.

25 years later, the magic of the Embassy Suites still exists. The lobby has a stream stocked with goldfish and lots of hiding places for our games of tag and hide and go seek. The breakfast is the best breakfast I’ve had in a LONG time. And, of course the pool.

It was the perfect place to wear out our kids before we stuffed them back in the car for another two days of driving.

4. I love apartment living. If the market didn’t s u c k right now, I would seriously contemplate selling our house and living in an apartment. Who needs extra bedrooms and a basement when you don’t have to mow the grass, change the light bulbs, and you can just drain the hamburger fat in the sink (shhhhhhh). And who needs a houseful of toys when there is pool right outside your door?

So, yes, I’ve learned a lot: I hate packing. I love Iowa, the Embassy Suites, and apartments.

Channel Surfing in Motor City

I am sitting with my feet up in a nice hotel room on a HUGE bed with CLEAN sheets. ALONE. The tv is on, and that's Oprah you hear, not Handy Manny.

Life is Good.

Okay, so technically I'm not in Motor City, I'm actually in Canada. Yes, I needed my passport for this exotic little vacation my husband sent me on. He's a good one, my man. He gave me his ticket to tonight's national championship game.

He gave it to me because he knew that, though I may not be the world's biggest sports fan (who's playing? Who cares?), I am a big fan of

1. time alone
2. time with my dad
3. listening to Oprah talking about motherhood (umm, what made Oprah an expert on motherhood, exactly?) when I would normally be wiping butts and cooking dinner.

So, a few more minutes of taking up every inch of real estate on this bed, while I flip channels and wonder why I didn't bring a book, and then it's off to the big game.

Woo-hoo!! Go State! Go Heels! Go Canada!

Oh, and a big thanks to my mom for helping Ben with the butt-wiping and dinner-making while I'm gone.

Now, I wonder what John & Kate are up too...

The party ain't over yet!

So, maybe I'm just going through withdrawal from my 30th birthday celebration, and maybe getting so many great presents from my husband (who is THE best present-buyer ever!!!) just got me itchin' to win prizes, or maybe I just really like my friend E and want to be like her, but I decided to join in The Ultimate Blog Party, which means...

...um, actually, I'm not sure. I'm new enough to the blog world not to really know anything other than it sure would be great to win some prizes, like, for instance...

• #56 - Surprise box of art supplies for my reluctant artist by kv creative designs
• #106 - Dress-up costume, so I don't have to tote the same old Police Officer around town by Good for the Kids
• #19 #21 and #22 Target gift cards by Shoot Me Now and Agoosa and Beginner Baby Blog

....or really any gift card to anywhere... because I love spending money that's not really mine.

So, feel free to join in the fun, but if you end up winning the target gift card, I want a piece!!

Discount Knowledge

Rarely do I get to listen to any songs that are about anything other than bananas or shaking your sillies out, but I recently heard a snippet of a country song where the phrase "Got my discount knowledge at the junior college" has forever been imprinted on my brain.

Just over a year ago, Ben convinced me to sign up for a graphic design class at our local college. I am now addicted. It turns out that discount knowledge is AMAZING. I can literally learn about anything I want to without going in the hole for over a $100,000 like my four-year degree set me back.

Don't get me wrong, I am thankful for my more expensive traditional college experience. It was at Taylor that I learned about the true joys of Super Wal-Mart, soft ice cream, and three-days-a-week chapels. It's also where I learned about heartbreak, exegesis and how important it is to have one really, really great friend.

But those three-and-a-half years were crammed full of requirements for my majors - I didn't have time to take a psychology class just because, and I didn't have the pre-requisites to take Genetics with my roommate so that I, too, could spend a semester breeding fruit flies.

Now that I'm a proud student of one of the very few fully accredited junior colleges in the country, the world is at my fingertips. With a one-page admissions form and a relatively small check, I can learn how to do almost anything. So far, it's just graphic arts, but I'm contemplating Drawing and Photography. And, just yesterday, I saw they have a crime lab - that would be SO FUN!

So, pretty much, one evening a week, for the rest of my life, you can find me taking a break from the dinner and bedtime routine to immerse myself in learning a skill that just might come in handy some day. You never know when a stay-at-home mom might be called on to analyze a crime scene!

Special Election Day Guest Post

It's Election Day! Big Day here in the Thomas House. My real interest in politics came during my addictive viewing of the West Wing. What?! You haven't watched the whole series? Go watch it - it's SO Good. Anyway, since watching 7 seasons on DVD in a relatively short amount of time, I've been addicted to the Race, the Hype, the Spin.

And, tonight, it's over.
But, today, we celebrate where we've come and today's post does just that. It's by my handsome husband. And, did you know there is so much more to him than his good looks? Read on, and enjoy. (Oh, and since it's never too early to start a campaign these days, and since Ben has a secret ambition to be the president despite my very controversial beliefs that one cannot both follow Christ the way He asks us to and lead the United States of America, get ready to vote Thomas 2020! How's that for a loaded run-on sentence?)


I am the son of two immigrants from India. My parents emigrated to this country in the early seventies in hope of securing a better future for themselves, but mainly for their children. I was born in Brooklyn and then moved to Long Island. I grew up in a very middle class neighborhood, school and community. Often times, my brother and I, and our Indian friends were the only ones around that looked different.
We have always been proud to be Americans. This country has given us opportunities that our parents never even dreamed about. Opportunities for education, employment, and the ability to live in a safe and secure country. These were things our parents had to fight hard for and we enjoy just by being Americans. We are proud to be Americans. We are humbled that we have been given this chance, when we see our cousins in India who still struggle and aren’t afforded the opportunities we have been given.
We were aware, even at a very young age, that there were certain things that were possible in this country and certain things that were not. It was possible for our parents, who mainly come from small villages in southern India to make a great living for themselves. It was possible for us to ensure a great and secure future in this wonderful country. It was possible for us to be treated as equals in many respects to our classmates. It was possible for us to work hard and achieve anything we wanted, well almost anything.
But there was always that word: almost. Always that qualifier: in many respects. Because there was always the gap between my possibilities and the possibilities that existed for others.
That’s why today marks an even greater level of pride in my country.
Today, the doors of America swing wide open again. Regardless of your political leanings or church affiliations, the glass ceilings that were left in this country are being shattered. You have an African-American male running for the highest office in the land. You have a former POW who has served his country honorably and in the most sacrificial way. You have a Caucasian woman, who is a hockey mom, small-town mayor and governor running as a vice presidential candidate.
Today, we are reminded yet again that we are all created in God’s image, with His design determining our possibilities. This is a truth we have heard from the time we first went to Sunday School. It was a truth we were reminded of as we learned about the Constitution. And yet, there were other truths that reminded us that maybe we weren’t there yet in this country. Today, that changes. Today, regardless of whom you are voting for and how you feel about each candidate, today we remember we are created in God’s image. Male, female, black, white, Indian. We are God’s people, created in His image. Regardless of gender, race, religion, ethnicity, we take a huge step forward to realizing God created us all to be equally honored children of the King.
So, as you go to the voting booth today and you wait up all night to see who our next President is, remind yourself of a few truths. You were created in God’s image. You can tell your kids that all things are possible. There is nothing that cannot be accomplished. If your son or daughter wants to be a doctor, lawyer, missionary, engineer or President, it is possible. I have been an American for 30 years. I have been fighting tears since last night and all morning as I realize this truth is finally here.

And here's a little West Wing love:

The Girl Effect

Sorry for the multiple postings, but this video is so worth watching!

Fireproof

Ok, so there is a lot to get over if you decide to see this movie. For one, Kirk Cameron. Second, there will be no Oscars for acting. A few uncomfortably cheesy intense moments. But, it helped me to learn that all the actors were unpaid volunteers. (That's what I'm told anyway.)
Fireproof was actually a good movie. It's a Christian movie, with a clear gospel message, and that seems weird because you're not used to seeing that in theaters. I'd say Fireproof is like a Christian take on "The Break-up." How we should handle a failing marriage.
Most people will probably find its premise unrealistic - love isn't based on feelings, act lovingly even when you don't feel the love, always do more that what you have to do to get by. But, I guess that's real Biblical love - completely unrealistic, and always the answer?
I recommend it - let me know what you think.