Obama, what the heck are you thinking?

I usually do not write about the political scene but I can no longer stay quiet when Congress is about to pass an "economic stimulus" package that is a crock of CRAP! It will increase taxes and our children and grandchildren will be suffering and paying for it for generations to come. It is loaded with new goverment spending that has NOTHING to do with stimulating the economy. Give me a break! Do a little research into history: Never has increased governement spending and programs stimulated the economy and gotten the US out of a slump. We are looking at a debt so huge that we may never recover. This is absurd! Obama says economists agree that the stimulus plan is the way out. Really? Check out what they really think here. It is eye opening.

Next I can no longer sit and say nothing about the genocide/planned parenthood law that Obama is sooo supportive of. Yesterday, I had the amazing and miraculous experience of going to my Ultrasound to see my beautiful baby boy that is growing inside me. Elijah Aaron Griesmyer is sooo beautiful! He is a person!!! He was yawning and covering his ears and turning over, smiling, and hicupping! Yes sir! At the fetal age of 24 weeks-this is a baby, a person. To call it the 'unwanted', 'the fetus', 'the embryo' is just an attempt to dehumanize what is in fact a baby, a child. Why is abortion not called what it truly is... MURDER? And Mr. President wants another child? Oh no wait...a dog first right? What is our world coming to when people value dogs over children? It is disgusting and makes me want to puke! OK, I have vented my feelings and my next post will be much more upbeat-I promise. Just please...speak up, do something, don't just take this lying down. Stand up and let our voices be heard!

For a much more eloquent dialogue on these issues check out my phenominal brother, Scott's blog.

Gratitude

I am grateful for healthy children. Sure, we get the occasional cold in my house but honestly, I have very healthy children. When the "bug" is going around we might catch it but it lingers for 3 days and is gone instead of the 2 weeks that seem to plague all my friends' children. So last night my best friend and neighbor called 911 because her extremely overactive, headstrong, strong-willed 3 year old was rolling around on the floor completely out of it and then lethargic and shaking. The day before he looked like he had a yucky nose with thick mucous. Yesterday he was having trouble breathing. She gave him his breathing treatments to no avail, took him to the doctor for them to give him some steroids and send him home. Only for him to get worse and worse and more unable to breathe. I about freaked out when I saw the cop show up. I had never, NEVER seen Sethman (that's what we call Seth) like that before and I have known him since the day he was born! I had never seen Kelsie so worried and frekaed out before either. It is such a desparate position to be in as a mom wanting to help your baby and nothing you do works. It's frustrating, infuriating, and devastating! Off we went to the hospital: 5 hours, one 1hr breathing treatment, chest X-rays, and IV antibiotics and we were finally home at 12:30am with the diagnoses of para-bronchial pneumonia. WHAT??? He was fine 3 days ago! Seriously, he was fine. Him and Gabe and Zech were riding 4 wheelers in the front yard for about 2 hours that day! I just don't understand but know that I am extremely grateful that I do not have trials such as these. Sure mine come in other ways, but sick children is not one of them. Thank you Heavenly Father! Thank you Dr. Schultze! Yes, I give my kids one multi vitamin, a green vitamin, and a B-complex everyday. In cold and flu season I also give them Dr Schultze's Children's echinacea everyday. So far, so good. We eat like normal unhealthy Americans. I just try hard to follow the word of wisdom and use vitamins and herbs to keep their immune systems up. So far it has worked. However, I have found that there is little if any rhyme or reason to why one child is prone to asthma and another is not. I just hope and pray for the best and am so grateful that my children right now are healthy and happy.

I need a camera!

I left my almost dead camera at my in laws over Christmas and cannot upload all the cute Christmas photos of my kids. Well, I told them to keep the camera, just send the memory card since the camera would work about 30% of the time anyway. So here I am in cyberspace with no fun pics to post and really nothing too exciting to say. Except that I got a phone call from my dear friend Lia Hopper last night and it just thrilled me! Why is it that in the world of no long distance charges and everyone over the age of 8 owns their own cell phone do I still think that friends who live across the world cannot be reached over the phone? Honestly, I'm not a big talker on the phone. Ask Kelsie, my friend and neighbor who calls me but I never call her. And we talk like 5-20 times a day! Yes, I am a pitiful friend. It is truly not because I do not think of my friends. I just don't think I could be too interesting to talk to them and take up their time. I mean I can barely homeschool, clean house, play with my kids, and get all the other duties done in a day without spending it on thew phone. Can you imagine if I was a phone talker???

This morning I was proud of myself. I told the boys all last week that they could play and chill at home before we got back into our routine and schedule. Everyday I reminded Zech of this. "Monday we start homeschool again and your chore chart". So this morning, my boys snuggled with me in bed when they first got up, we talked then had breakfast, then read our scriptures and had prayer. I sent the boys to their rooms to make up beds and get dressed, then we did math and reading lessons. We were done by 8:30am!!! I told them they could go play while I got dressed and did some chores (which ended up being me playing on the computer) then we would make crafts, have snack, and do a science lesson. I guess its time for snack, crafts, and science. But I do feel good. I was worried that I wouldn't have time to do homeschool and get the house ready to sell and take care of all my other duties.

Today I am Wonderwoman!

SOOOO happy to be home!

Oh my gosh! Has it really been a month since my last post? Well, I could blame it on a whole load of things but the honest story is...I don't care! teeheeheee Is that bad?
Oh bloggers, I am boring anyways, my camera is dead, and I have had a very long, tough, fun, and exhausting vacation.

On Monday December 22nd @ very early in the morning my superhero husband, 3 little boys, 2 very large black dogs, and my pregnant self loaded into my van to embark on a very long journey to Ohio for Christmas. Monday night we stopped in Memphis, TN for the night. The next day we were on the road again and would have made it to my in-laws had the roads not decided to ice over and become treacherous for all vehicles. We stopped for a rest right on the Kentucky/Ohio border only to find out roads were being shut down. I was sooo tired and stressed (and sick-let's not forget how sick I was)! And then my sweet husband suggested we stay at the Holiday Inn that I swear just appeared from the sky next door to the gas station we had pulled into. "Ok!", I said as I choked back tears of relief. (another night's stay was sooo not in our budget plan) Of course the next morning when we set off the roads were clear and sky was too. So we arrived at the farm on Christmas Eve night. We stayed through Sunday and were able to see all Gary's siblings (except for one- Sarah and Daniel couldn't come down from Maine). Oh, the day after CHristmas I called in a favor to a doctor friend of mine and he called me in antibiotics to the local pharmacy! Let the healing begin!!! YIPEEE!!! Oh my gosh-what a blessing! Monday Dec 29th, we were in the car again driving from Ohio to GA to meet my brothers for a week in a lake house at Lake Lanier. It was soooo much fun! I couldn't believe we were actually all there for the whole time! That rarely happens. I was able to go see my Aunt Sis, and family in Powder Springs, GA on New Years Day and had a blast testing out the Wii Fit she just got for Christmas. Saturday morning presented another trip in the car as we loaded up to drive to Florence, AL for my niece Kayla's baptism. She was so beautiful! She sang an awesome song with my brother, Jason that I can't wait to find on lds.org too. We camped there Sat night and hit the road AGAIN Sunday morning for the looooong trip back to TX. I got home at 9:30pm last night and was overwhlelmed at the beauty, relief, and happiness that I felt to come home. I love my house and am going to be sooo sad to say goodbye to it, my friends, my neighbors, etc. come April when we pack up and head to VA.
Needless to say the boys are playing and playing and playing-they are SOOOO stoked to be home! And I am wasting my time on the computer. Oh, life is grand! Did I say I am happy to be home?

I AM SOOOO HAPPY TO BE HOME!!!!!!