A Deserving Mommy

 Please vote for my dear friend that could use a pick me up. She has been nominated for a mom makeover, you can visit the website and begin voting on March 14, 2011. Click on the family picture above to visit the Mom Magazine website.

Political Decisions

Yesterday I was asked to be part of Oregon Citizen's Against the Death Penalty. This request kind of took me by surprise, because until then I didn't really know where I stood on the side of this issue. The person requesting my membership is one of my professors from Grad School and I had taken a course about Criminal Justice issues in his class over 5 years ago. Perhaps in that class my opinion on this issue was very present. I am thinking that since I became a mommy lots of my opinions have changed. I just got done reading a book this past week written by a lawyer, Andrea Lyons. She is nicknamed the "Angel of Death Row." This book had very many statements that really made me think. It has also made me think in regards to how I feel about the death penalty and the way it supports/doesn't support my religious beliefs. She begins her book by quoting a story from the bible in regards to letting some guilty go instead of one innocent killed. This pulls at my heart strings. Jesus died on the cross for my sins, yet the man was perfect.

This post might be a sort of ramble, however, I am hoping that it causes your mind to process a few minor questions. Should we continue to use a criminal justice system and allow them to execute people when the system continues to have many flaws? Is it better for someone to be killed than to live life forever in prison? What would be a just model for someone that killed a member of your family? I just don't know where I stand on this issue.

Another topic of debate that is swimming in my mind this morning is how to tell kids about prisons. Growing up prisons were where my step-dad worked. Scary guys lived there and he kept them from getting out. How do you explain to a kid that someone they love is in prison? How do you explain to them that they can't go and visit there?

Bronson Funnies

Here is some new stuff that Bronson is doing:

• Sings the entire songs of Guns and Roses, "Sweet Child of Mine," complete with the hold out miiiinnnnneee. Knows more than 10 songs of Def Leopard and Guns and Roses. Can sing the entire song that his daddy wrote for him, "I will love you forever." He calls it the always song.
• Loves the number 55 for some reason and tries to count there quickly.
• Stands up to go pee. Even if it means using a stool to stand that high.
• Wants to write his name all the time. He has successfully created his first B.
• Any new word that he hears he will tell us is a bad word. I guess he has heard us tell him that words are bad too often. His humor is a little too bathroom related.
• Still obsessed with the guitar and vacuum. He requests YouTube videos to watch other little kids play with both of these items. His favorite video is of a German guy singing into the vacuum hose Happy Birthday.
• Says that he has a baby in his tummy. He tells us that he is having a girl and She She is having a boy. I wonder what will happen when She She brings home her baby boy.
• Tells me every night at dinner that I am cooking so good for him. I love this age and the compliments.
• Has declared that he is a duck fan on occasion lately. He even repeats the line, "I am a duck. I love my ducks." Seriously not cool in our house. I know that this makes several of his great uncles and his great grandpa Cookie very happy.

• Talks about marrying girls now. He has several girlfriends, including ones that are SEVERAL years older.

Just wanted to document my little cutie. Someone yesterday commented that he no longer has the baby face...he is a full blown kid now. What a compliment. He is sure cute!

Love Dare

Kyle and I just celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. I can't truly tell you if it seems like forever or just a day since we got married. I can honestly say that I spend everyday thanking God that I got to marry my best friend. Kyle completes me. I don't mean this in a mushy way, but a very sincere admission. We are very different people, but I feel that we both try to bring out the best in each other. As we approached our 7 year mark we begin to think of ways that we could improve communication or make our marriage better. We both believe that it is important to keep the spark in our relationship.

The first step that we have made in the new year is reading through the Love Dare together. We had watched the movie well over a year ago and decided against the lesson thinking that it had to do more with the issue of infidelity than anything else. We were pleasantly surprised to discover that this book has more to do with taking steps to initiate a more loving relationship with your spouse. I can honestly say that this book is making a big difference in our life. We have always believed that love is more an action than emotion. This book solidifies making a point to make sure that your partner feels love. I am looking forward to the next 35 days of doing extra things to make my best friend happy.