Where have I been??

My goodness, my last blog was on October 21st and it's the 31st!! Where have i been? Well, we visited some relatives in another city and had SO much fun! K watched Molly (Thank you K) and we flew (best thing in the world) instead of driving for HOURS AND HOURS we were there in less than two! We saw an NBA game - lots of fun, we went to a theme park and i went to a strip club!

Okay, it's not what you are thinking.....a group of ladies from T's cousin's church go once a month on a Saturday (their slowest time) to a 24 hour stip club. It's a well known place in the city and they actually are also known for their burgers...haha. It's really a wonderful thing that these ladies do - they bring the stippers little gifts and let them know they are loved even though they are where they are. They have developed a relationship with them and actually get to pray with them if they want to. They are not judgemental, they do not yell at them or tell them they are bad people. They actually already know they are not in a great place in their lives - they just need people to believe in them and show them love the right way. As difficult as it was to sit and have lunch in a stip club (with woman stripping on the stage mind you), it was amazing to see girls coming over and hugging these women who pray for them daily as well as getting prayed for in the middle of everything going on.

Funeral Anyone?

I grew up in funeral homes. My granfather had 12 borthers and sisters and there was always somebody that was being buried from here or there. The thing is - no two funeral parlors are the same.....they may be now but not then. Some had rooms for smoking in the back and they would have enough room to play around a little and sometimes they would have free coffee for the adults and free hot chocolate for others. Some even had candy and soda machines....these were the best. As a kid i remember a phone call would come in and who would hear your parent saying a lot of comforting things and then the name of a funeral home. I would either be happy or depressed about the name of the place - knowing one may or may not have the kid essentials. Never mind someone that was related to us died, but we aren't getting to go to the funeral home with the nice snack machine? Yikes

Even though they STILL have not approved us, we got an okay to start our home study. They have been so busy - it hasn't been able to go through all the channels yet......I'm nerveous! It's been okay saying that it was going to be - but to actually schedual it is frightening!

We both have baseball injuries!

When Albert Pujols hit a homerun on Monday, October 17th to help the Cardinals win the fourth game of the division playoffs....i thought my husband was crazy! After he declared his love for Albert and lost his voice.....he hugged me so hard i think he broke/misplaced/ or popped something. I hurt....

Who knew baseball could be so dangerous in the home?

Thank Goodness for Bandaides

This is NOT the bride i saw but i did see a bride this weekend who exposed her bandaides (well, one) and i just want to say - Thank goodness for bandaides and mothers who tell.......

Some People Shouldn't Have Children!

"While Hollywood awaits a due date for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' baby, one thing is already a known fact — when the baby does arrive, Scientology will play a major role. Tom and Katie are likely to follow the church's "silent birth" guidelines during delivery, which means no music and no talking during the birth, which also means no screaming during the pains of labor. The doctrine also states that newborns cannot be poked or prodded for medical tests or even spoken to for the first seven days of their lives, believing that babies go through so much pain during the birth, they shouldn't have to experience any further discomfort or sensory experience that could return later in life to haunt them."

BATH Party - Godfather I, II and III

We went to Hussien's last night and we talked about the constitution in Iraq. I asked if he had read it but he said he had only read parts of it. He said he trusts the people who wrote it - "they are very smart people, they know so much and know what's good". I asked him about the Sunni's not liking parts of it and he said "they changed those things for them, they were afraid becuase the constitution was saying that ALL the Bath party was bad and there are many Sunnis who are still in the Bath party . They let that go and changed it to say only the one's who they could prove did a bad thing would be a criminal".
I wanted to know more about the Bath party so I started talking about Hitler and Hussien said - "Hitler fought for his country, he wanted Germany to be great and thought he was doing good for his country....he was crazy but didn't kill his own people like Saddam". I told him that he did - he killed the German jews just like Saddam killed Kurds and Shiite because he thought Sunnis were the only ones that were good. He still thought that Saddam was worse that Hitler because he could kill his own friends if they thought they were in his way or talking bad about him. There are so many similarities.
Then i compared the Bath party to Nazi's - who maybe had some people in it that just "followed the crowd" - but he said "NO, EVERY person in the Bath party is BAD - everyone. I asked if it was like the mob "YES", he shouted - "LIKE THE MOB, you only are in it if you are bad - people who try to get out are killed". It's interesting that Saddam's favorite movie was The GODFATHER!
It was very enlightening and so sad. Now the Bath party is somewhat protected with this new constitution - it sort of gives them a "window" in the new government. scarey!


Saddam's favorite movie was Godfather.......hmmmmm

I got ARRESTED!


Today i was in jail half the day trying to make bail. It was a "Lock-up" for MDA (Jerry's Kids). I HATE asking people for money but it was a very worthy cause and i'm proud to say i raised almost $600. I had a few checks in the mail when i got back to work....YEAH friends. It's nice to know people can still give after reaching so deep in their pockets for Katrina and other charities.

I cannot imagine how it feels to be put under so much duress. Whether it is a widow who has lost every family member in the rubble in Pakistan, losing my house and job in New Orleans, watching my child get swept under the water in Tiawan or see my son shot in Iraq.....whatever. I cannot put myself in their shoes - i have no idea what they are feeling or going through. I have never had to live under such dire circumbstances and pray i never have to. i read a quote on another blog....

"Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes.

That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes."

No one would actually put themselves in another's place anymore. People are all selfish and could care less how other people feel. I think the world is coming to an end.

.....PRODUCE A PROFILE.....

This sounds like something the government does with criminals, murderers, childmolesters and terrorists. Yes, that's exactly how i feel......except we have to make our own profile so people can see how wonderful, not aweful, we are. Why do we have to prove ourselves, make us sound worthy and faithful to an outside world? Granted, a person will hand over a living, breathing human being they produced and expect us to be good to it. One question......why would we go through all this trouble if we planned on not being good to this child???? Do child molesters and criminals go through all this....? NO - they kidnap children if they want one for bad purposes. SO, what does this profile need to be???? I realize we must tell the truth but who shows pictures of anything bad? - Do they want pictures of my quirks and weirdnesses......"sheet over, sheet over", washing my hair with only conditioner, eating absolutely nothing that crumbles in the bed?
They cannot expect the whole truth.....but are we that bad? Do they need to know the slight weirdness? They need to know we have good hearts, that God will be #1 and we will be fun parents.....right? They already know we have gone through all this stuff right?? How bad can we be?
I just don't want to put too much pressure on myself (T sits back and lets me do my "magic") If it fails it will be my fault, if it doesn't, more power to both of us!
Maybe i'll put this picture on the front ---it's how i feel.......

A House Tour is Like.....

I thought letting people walk through your house would be like letting people see you in your underwear......everything exposed and hanging out. But it's more like parading down a runway in a beautiful, glittery gown. You are primped and puckered and rouged and no one sees the flaws. However, there is an exception to that....... If you are in this high brow fashion show and do not have a fancy gown but a tacky eighties jumpsuit that you believe is gorgeous, a pair of 5 inch heels that glow in the dark and a big fro hat that lights up and plays Jingle Bells - be ready for ridicule. You may think you are fabulous but people are talking. That's one reason i would never let people walk through my house. I don't want to be the one they all make fun of behind my back.....i want to wear my costumes without the attention.....let them talk about you not me......:)

It's already Thursday, time goes by so fast! I talked to the agency today because i hadn't heard from them in so long. Our case worker had told me that it would be two weeks and it's been SO long i was beginning to worry. She said they have 7 babies in forster care right now and things are pretty crazy. She said she would put a priority sticker on it and have the commitee look at it and send out the profile information so we could start working on it. It's something that i want to happen right away, a long time from now or maybe just something i dream about. Our lives will be so different that i am having a little anxiety (i HATE change).....but i know i love children and babies and even though i cannot imagine us with a child of our own i am praying that it will happen. I never, as a child, pictured myself with my own children or a family---i wonder what that's all about? Never really pictured myself as married and that happened so.......

JJ's dad is here from Tamil, India and he has never been anywhere until coming here to America. What a shock it must be for him! He went to the University Campus with K and saw the fountains.....he asked "is that drinking water?" and she said "i guess so, it's clean, you could drink it" then he asked if people could bath in the fountain......"no, you would probably get in trouble for doing that, it's just for looking nice---making the campus more appealing". This was upsetting to him. In India water is very precious and NEVER wasted. She thought he would faint when he saw a guy squirting off the sidewalk......

Sounds Like a Bad Movie

Mary was a secretary from Pennsylvania. She attended a party made up of six married men and six single women, crowded into a small living room. There was plenty of alcohol, the host reports buying three half gallons of vodka, four fifths of scotch, two bottles of rum and two cases of beer for the party. After midnight everyone was leaving and one of the married men left with Mary even though his license had been expired for five months and he had numerous amounts of warrants out for reckless driving, running red-lights and speeding. He reported later he made a “wrong turn” even though he had taken the same road two times that day) and he ran the car off a small bridge into a pond and the car turned up side down with Mary in it. The man said he was dazed by the accident, laid on the bank for 15 or 20 minutes then, not seeing any lights, decided to walk, run and jog back to the nearest town---yelling all the way. People who lived near the pond said their porch lights could be seen from the bridge and people along the road he said he ran down, slept with their windows open and they never heard a thing. The man who said he walked, ran and jogged all the way to town, went to his hotel room, changed his clothes and went downstairs to complain about a noisy party that was going on (there were eyewitness accounts to this).

The car was discovered by fishermen at 8am the next morning and the police divers found Mary, her head was cocked back, her face pressed into the footwell of the car. She had been alive for nearly two hours after the accident and breathing the air left in an air-pocket. The pond was only 6-8 feet deep. Had the man tried to save her, knock out a window or even gone for help – she could have been saved.

Not only did he NOT go for help, he showed up to meet some colleagues the next morning in a jovial mood. The mood didn’t last long when they told him what the police had found he had them drive him to the police station to report the accident. A week later he arrived in court wearing a neck brace, pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and was given a two-month suspended sentence and a year's probation.

How would you feel about the injustice of this?? Mary’s parents signed a petition preventing an autopsy…why?

Would you be surprised to find out the man was Ted Kennedy? Mary Jo Kopechne was the girl who died and this all happened at Chappaquiddick, Massachusetts. Too many people have forgotten or were too young to remember. This was an injustice and Ted Kennedy should have been forced to give up politics. His wealthy and influential family changed the rules for him and he still is a “big wig” in the senate. Why did her parents refuse an autopsy? I would like to know……
-Was she pregnant?
-Did she know something about Robert Kennedy’s assassination? (She had been his secretary)
-Who asked those parents to refuse the autopsy? Wouldn’t you want to know about your own daughter’s death?
-How can Ted Kennedy decide laws and be influential in Washington with a murder to his name?
-Why haven't people risen up and said "get out of the senate" years ago???

God and Jerky

The pastor talked in his sermon about how the word of God is like jerky....you need to chew on it alot and suck all the juice and nourishment out. I love the picture of that. It made me start thinking about metaphores that you would not necessarily go together.
Life is like a nose. You would get bad things out of it but would not get rid of the nose but medicate it - work on it.....sometimes you pick and pick at it until it's sore---sometimes you get something out of the aggravation and sometimes you don't. Most itmes you just take it for granted when it's working well....it's only when it''s not working correctly that you pay attention to getting it back to normal working order. And----without it you would be ugly and miserable.
I'll work on it

No One Believes Me

No one believes that i am actually shy. I hate meeting new people unless they do most of the talking or my dear hubby is with me. He can charm the skin off a snake. He talks to everyone - store clerks, janitors, people on the street....anyone. I will walk away at a store to try on something and when i get back he has the whole background information on the sales girl. He will probably be in the middle of telling her his life story when i return and i'll interupt to pay for an item and drag him out. I, on the other hand like being alone. I like observing from afar. I wonder why that is....i guess i always feel more comfortable as the outsider. People don't believe i'm shy because i act and sing. What they don't understand is there is no real interaction with anyone. It's an observation of them while i am acting or singing. I still get to observe from afar and not get personal.
.
I do love to act - dress up and be whoever i want to be. I can actually be fun and interesting, mean, dumb and sometimes even funny. I watch people do what they do - guess a little bit about them and never have to share anything of myself. I do what i do and then go home.....no relationships there.