My heart is completely crushed...

For the tradgedy in Arizona...   What hurts worst is that the man who could so carelessly snuff out those lives won.  He did.  Here we are driving a wedge to further and further rend apart the two factions of our country.  You know who I heard was to blame for the tradgedy?  Sarah Palin.  That's right Sarah Palin who went home that night and hugged her babies and cried because underneath it all- it could have been her.  Because she's a woman in politics who's had as many death threats- if not more! 

Right now everyone is blaming the Tea Party for inspiring hatred towards the government.  But here's the fallacy of that.  We won.  We have no reason to hate the government. (And seriously, there was no anti-government hatred when Bush was prez?) Quite honestly we didn't like Gifford's policies but we like the way she did her job.  I apologize, she DOES her job, I don't mean to speak past tense- I believe she WILL be back doing what she loves as soon as her heart heals- which I daresay may take longer than her brain.  We believe in a two party system, and welcome opposing viewpoints as long as they are in keeping with American principles. We believe that a political candidate has every right and in fact SHOULD be able to speak publicly. 

But what hurts the worst for me is that people keep speaking to me as though I wouldn't understand, all because I don't agree with her political agenda.  I don't belong to her party.  But I'm a woman.  And the judge standing next to her who lost his life and the little nine year old girl who was gunned down were both Catholic.  I'm Catholic.  Most importantly, I'm an American.  I'm a human being.  I don't need any more than that to be profoundly affected by this. 

Yet we are using this to drive ourselves further apart.  

So I challenge you to go beyond the moment of silence today.  I say it is time to start flying our flags again in honor of a little girl, born on the day of our worst moment in American history and her life snuffed out in a cruel and brutal attempt to recreate it.  Remember the day Christina Taylor Green was born?  Remember 9/11/2001?  She was in the book Faces of Hope, featuring babies born on that dark day. 

Perhaps the Lord is using her to remind us all that it's time to hope again.

The School Room

As anyone who homeschools knows, it's always nice to have a schoolroom to work in.  Ok, nice being a very weak word.  Very weak.  Actually if my teenager wrote that down I'd correct her and make her write a more descriptive word.  How about moral imperative?  Now I'm being hyperbolic I know and it's just as bad.

ANYWAY

We have been working on our school room for three major reasons.
1) The teenager refuses to do anything independently and if I have to sit with her all freaking day I might as well enjoy the room.

2) After watching the absolute joy (not) of Sparrow returning to school after break, I'm fairly certain they will both end up being homeschooled.  I simply cannot tolerate watching a 7 year old that depressed. Even though she swears she's not.

3) My in laws gave us a new computer for Christmas.

It's in the process of being cleaned out and reorganized.  Actually, it'll take a while, since right now the toys are also being stored in here and are moving once the tax return comes in.  Then we'll be able to buy a split box spring for the master bedroom and switch everything around.

And so the new year begins...

Our new year began with a brand new kitchen table and chairs, the loss of some baby teeth, and a brand new cat mysteriously appearing in the barn.

I'm thinking our year's going to end with orthodontia and kittens.  (Is that how you spell orthodontia?)