Early Voting

Where I live, we are allowed to vote early... So, my husband and I made a date out of it... Lunch out and then we voted!

The line was fairly long, but it only took 20 minutes start to finish. 

I am so thankful to live in a country that, with all it's faults, allows us to choose who will represent us at the local, state and national levels.  This is not true for so many people in this world.  And yet somewhere around 50% of registered voters vote in each election.  I find this mind boggling!

We live in a time when we have access to information about the candidates, their views and their actions.  There is no way we can honestly say that we don't know enough to vote.  And even though we are "busier" than ever, I really think we all have an hour or 2 on Election Day to exercise our rights and vote.

If you live in a state that has Early Voting, then you have even LESS of an excuse to not vote!  Instead of one day, you have several days in which to cast your vote for the candidates of your choice!

In some countries, citizens face possible imprisionment or even death if they even dare to vote... 

In some countries, if you don't vote for the "right" candidate, your vote doesn't count.

In some countries, only one person is on the ballot in each race.... Some voting "right" you have there!

But in America, we can vote, sometimes without even having to show ID (I do NOT agree with that, but that is for another post!) for whomever you want!

I don't know if you're going to be one of the almost 50% of registered voters who isn't going to vote for whatever reason you have.... If you are, then I BEG you to reconsider and to exercise your RIGHT to vote!  I don't care WHO you vote for, that is a personal decision... I care that you VOTE!

You've all heard the saying that if you don't vote, you have no right to complain about who won.... If you don't even bother to participate in the process, you really have no basis to make a complaint.  Your vote, and countless others, could've created a different result!

 So, as Election Day approaches, make plans to VOTE!  
 

It's Been Awhile.....

I was doing so well at blogging once a week...

But then came the fall....

I've had several stretches of 2 weeks in between blog posts....

Not that it's a bad thing or anything, we have just had so much going on that I haven't had time to sit and blog and/or my brain hasn't had enough energy to even THINK about what to write!

I started a "book review" of one I just finished, but seriously my brain said STOP!  So, I'll finish that when things calm down just a little bit.

We are right in the middle of the "beginning of the end" week.  We had our youngest's birthday, my husband is 50 hours into a 135 hour stretch of work, we have our last soccer practices and tournament of the season, and the kids are trying to stay current in their homeschool work.  We have seen my husband very little, but are still sane.  He is absolutely exhausted, but he'll make it through.  

We are looking forward to having some time together next week when soccer is over and my husband's bizarrely crazy work schedule is a memory.  We won't have nearly as much time as we think, as the schedule is already filling up, but at least we will be able to have dinners together with the FIVE of us!  That is something that we enjoy doing but hasn't happened much at all in the month of October.

And the "funny" thing is that once Thanksgiving comes, our busy time is just about over!  I actually don't mind the "busyness" of Thanksgiving, Christmas and what follows for us: 2 kids' birthdays and then my husband's.  Once we get through the fall, we are good to go!  



 

 

Same Old, Same Old....

It's been 2 weeks since I last posted...

I've been finding it hard to blog because it feels like we do the same thing every day and every week since September started...

Public school, homeschool, soccer, regular shift for my husband, off duty work for him too, soccer, homework, church, meetings, appointments....

Repeat... And again...

You get the idea...

How exciting can that be to read about?

With all of those things going on each week, things can get a little crazy around here.  There have been periods of time due to my husband's schedule where we haven't seen him for more than 30 minutes in over 48 hours.  And we all survived!  It was a good preview of what October could be once he starts working off duty at our State Fair.

To ADD to the craziness of the above list of things going on in our family in the fall, we add several more things in October: 2 soccer tournaments, our anniversary, and our youngest's birthday (and first with our family...and during the Fair).

But this schedule is really not that much different from many other families.  We are ALL busy...

EVERY fall our family experiences this same craziness...

EVERY winter we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, 2 kids' birthdays and then my husband's birthday...

EVERY spring we get a little break from the busy and look forward to finishing out the school year...

EVERY summer we get a little time to rest and plan for the upcoming school year...

And then there we go again...

I'm not complaining, REALLY I'm not!  

I LOVE soccer season, even though we rarely get to sit down to eat dinner together as a family.

I'm used to the off duty work that piles on in the fall for my husband.  He is at the point in his career where he has little opportunity to work off duty during the year, so we don't turn down the chance to work it in the fall, even if it does mean adding in an extra week's worth of work every month.

So, that is the routine, boring, same as last month update from our family!  And to be honest, I kind of like it this way!  ;)

 

 

One Year and Counting!

I posted my first blog post just about 1 year ago, on September 6, 2011!

SO much has happened since then!

Every year I write a newsletter that I send out with my Christmas cards and family picture where I recount all the important things that have happened in our family over the past year.  So, I thought maybe it would be fun to do the same for my blog.  

Here are the TOP TEN things that I blogged about this past year!

1. Family: No big surprise there... My family is pretty wonderful, both the ones who live with me and my extended family.  We try to spend a lot of time together and with my husband's schedule, my teens' increasingly busy schedule and our youngest schedule, it's getting harder and harder to do.  But we still do our best!
2. Life:  That's a pretty generic category, I am realizing now.  It includes posts about our vacations, how we celebrate the holidays and various miscellaneous things.  Sometimes I have a little pity party and think things are tough, but when I REALLY stop and think, my life is pretty easy and very blessed.
3. Home:  This goes along with life, and since you can tag a post with multiple category, I'm thinking these have overlapped.  But I can see from this that HOME is very important to me.... I am a stay at HOME mom and I HOMEschool our kids.... and yet I find that some weeks it seems like I am never HOME!  My home is a haven for my husband, so that he can unwind after his long, stressful days at work.  There's no other place we'd rather be than HOME!  Ok, we love the beach and mountains too!  ;)
4. Adoption:  I thought this one would be first.  It has seemed to consume our last year.  I've enjoyed updating everyone on the process and all of our visits and now with how we're adjusting... And who knows, maybe there will be more updates in our future?  We'll see what God has planned for our family...
5. Marriage:  I have a pretty darn good marriage... Sure, we have our problems, mostly because I talk a lot!  ;)  But we haven't gotten to the point of a good marriage without some HARD WORK!  We've both learned that it's not about us being "happy", it's about the commitment we made before God to stay together no matter what and to work at this as harder than we work on anything else.  We love our Dates and we love to spend time together!
6. Homeschool: I didn't want to blog too much about this because it can sometimes be a sensitive subject.  I don't want anyone to think that our decision is what everyone should be doing or that my kids are any better than any others.  This is simply a lifestyle decision that our family has made that we have never regretted....
7. Missions/Ukraine:  This was a BIG year for us with my husband and our oldest son going on a 10 day mission trip to Ukraine.  I have been on a 3 week mission trip in college.  Our daughter hopes to also go to Ukraine in the next year or 2.  Now, I don't think you should go on only 1 mission trip in your life, but at this point, my job is to keep things going at home while other members of my family go on these trips.  We've have changed our spending so that we can save for mission trips.  We were going to start saving for a Disney trip, but realized that for us, sending our teens on mission trips was more important.  Now hear me on this- I'm not saying that a trip to Disney or any other vacation or fun spending is wrong!  For our family, we can't afford to do everything, so the choice we made was for missions.  We'll go on vacations, but that Disney trip is on hold for awhile.
8. Exercise:  This has been hit or miss in my life this year.  I HATE running so that didn't last too long.  We joined a local gym for 2 months and that was nice, but we just didn't have the time to continue it long term.  A friend of mine gave me an exercise bike for free and I was doing well with that, but school, soccer and sickness set me back a little.  I'm hoping SOON to get back into it and make it a regular part of my rountine.
9. Books: I had a lofty goal of reading a bunch of books over the summer and into the fall, but life got in the way.  I still plan on making it through my stack, but it's definitely going to take me into 2013 to get it done!
10. LEO Life:  Oh, wow... How embarrassing!  It's been such a terrible year for law enforcement but I didn't want to talk about it too much and annoy people.  I don't think that law enforcement is any better than any other person, but I realize the stressful job they have and the disrespect they encounter from both criminals and law abiding citizens.  I also know that my friends and family are VERY supportive of our crazy life.  Not every LEO family has that and so I am thankful that we do!

I have enjoyed this last year of blogging and am looking forward to this coming year and seeing all God has in store for us!

 
 

First Week of School, Part 2!

Last week was the week that our youngest started public school.

I knew it was going to be a CRAZY week, but I didn't realize just how crazy.

My husband was finishing up night shift, I was recovering from a virus and then my daughter got sick overnight Monday into Tuesday.

My son had a soccer game Tuesday.

I got very sick (the virus must have come back, but this time it was WORSE!!) on Wednesday so the guys went to church that night and the girls stayed home to recover.

Thursday I was once again trying to recover, my daughter had science lab in the afternoon and my son had an away game that evening.  I think we ate dinner at 8:30pm.

On Friday, I was STILL trying to catch up from the week and got a little bit done.  My son had another soccer game.  The guys were playing VERY well and were winning 2-0 in the 2nd half.... Then a player on the other team collided with his goalie.  It was a LOUD hit that we heard on the sidelines.  The player was down on the ground for a long time and the goalie was obviously in pain as well.  Thankfully, the mom of one of our players was a nurse and the dad of another of our players teaches first aid and CPR so they were both out on the field to give assistance.  After a bit, the coach decided to call for an ambulance as the player was having neck pain.  It seemed to take forever, although I'm sure it was the right timeframe for a 911 call and dispatch to a volunteer department, but the ambulance arrived and took the player to the hospital.  The game was called at that point.  We later heard the goalie had some torn rib muscles and the other player was released from the hospital with a concussion.  We're glad they weren't hurt worse!

My husband took the youngest, our daughter and her friend to a minor league baseball game with some free tickets so my oldest and I were hanging out at home.  At some point I started to think about a young friend of mine that I met at church a year ago and how I hadn't seen her on Facebook much in the last month or two.  So I decided to go on her wall and see what was up..... That's where I had my BIG shock of the week...

My friend was dead!

She died in early July, just a month after turning 25.  She leaves a 1 year old daughter and 3 year old son.

I'm so sad....

She and I had been trying to find some time in December and January to get together.... Between Christmas, birthdays, her schedule and mine, we couldn't find a day that worked.  Then all of our adoption stuff started and I kept forgetting to get back in touch with her.  When I'd remember, I was usually too tired, so I'd tell myself that I'd message her or see her "soon".... "Soon" turned into months.... And then it was too late.

I enjoyed getting to know my friend this past year.  I met her just about a year ago to be exact.  I held her baby most Wednesday nights and talked with her and got to know her a little.  I enjoyed her hugs on Sunday mornings.  I will miss her...

I really never want to go through all of those things again in one week's time.  It was a tough week: busy, stressful, shocking...

 

 

What a Weekend!

I knew ahead of time it was going to be a crazy weekend... But I didn't plan for this kind of crazy!

My husband was on night shift, working 6pm-6am all weekend.

My son had a soccer tournament over an hour away Friday evening and Saturday morning.

My daughter had to babysit at our house Friday evening.

Our youngest had Open House at his school Friday afternoon.

I thought I had it ALL planned out... Who was going where, when and with whom...

And then it hit!

The stomach virus!

It hit our youngest mid week, but we had no idea that it actually was a virus.  We just thought it had to do with some eating issues we were addressing.

But then around midnight on Friday, we realized it was something more and that he needed to go to the doctor on Saturday.  And that no one would be able to take him without a drastic change in schedule.

When you realize this at midnight and have to wake up at 5am to go to a soccer game, it's not like you can get in touch with the parent of a teammate to arrange transportation.  I was going to have to go to the tournament, which I was fine with since I had missed the games on Friday.

But the youngest HAD to go to the doctor and that left my husband, who would not be able to work until 6am AND take him to the doctor.

So, my husband came home at midnight, picking up a few things at the store on his way home.  I know he was conflicted about it; he had no problem helping out at home, but he knew he'd be leaving the other working supervisor in a bind by himself... But father duty called and won out that night!

After waiting up for my husband to come home while doing a load of laundry at midnight and hand washing my son's uniform, I figure I got about 3 1/2 hours of sleep that night.  

And I think that's what did me in...

I came down with the stomach bug on Sunday morning!

We had already decided we'd stay home from church so that the youngest could be all better for the first day of school, so at least we weren't headed out the door when the pains hit.

Around 11am, I had to kick my husband out of the bed to sleep in the bonus room so that we could both get some sleep.  The older 2 kept up with the youngest and things went decently.

My husband did his very best to take care of everything when he woke up that afternoon... He cooked dinner, hung out with the kids, cleaned up a little, as well as got EVERYTHING ready for the youngest kid's first day of school.  Since we haven't sent a kid to school for 9 years, neither of us really knew what we were doing.... But he has his lunch and supplies and hopefully that was all he needed!  My husband went into work a few hours late to get the youngest in bed and everything else settled for the night...

To top it all off, I didn't know how I'd feel in the morning, so my husband also had to cover that... So instead of coming home at 6am and going to sleep, he worked until 7am and stayed up to make breakfast and take the youngest and our neighbor's child to school.  

In the midst of all this craziness, there was (at least) one good thing...

My biggest concern with starting school during night shift was the lack of time that the youngest would be able to spend with my husband.  The older 2 and I are very used to this crazy schedule and not getting to see him, but the youngest is new to this and needs to see Dad whenever he can.  Because of this crazy weekend, he was able to see Dad more than the rest of us did!

 

Let's Do It!!

We're approaching August 31st... Does that date hold any significance for you or your children?

Perhaps it means your child will have just started the new school year.  You've finished spending quite a bit of money on school supplies, clothes, maybe even a new computer.

Maybe your child is in a year round school schedule and is approaching the first track out period where you're looking forward to doing some fun things together.

Depending on your area of the country, maybe that date means only a few more days until the new school year starts and you're making preparations and finding out who their teacher is, etc.

But for 16 year old kids in Ukraine, that date has an entirely different meaning.  

That's the day where they are on their own...

August 31st signals the day when orphanages in Ukraine send 16 year olds out the door and into the world on their own...

With a backpack and a bus ticket...

No parents or mentors...

Little to no job skills...

Barely any life skills, beyond fighting for your basic needs...

NO chance at adoption...

Into a country that considers orphans the worst of the worst...

Within a few years, while these kids are still teenagers, 80% of them will end up in poverty...

In a life of crime...

As prostitutes...

With an addiction...

In prison...

Or dead...

So, why should we care about kids halfway around the world, you might ask?

Why should we care when there are kids in our foster care system who need our help?

These are good questions... and I might just offend some people with my answers...

Why is it one versus the other?

Why should Americans help only those in Ukraine (or China, or Africa, etc) and not those in the US?  OR

Why should Americans help only those in the US and no children in other countries?

Here is my question...

Why can't we help BOTH?

There are many people who wonder why families want to adopt from foreign countries when there are many in our foster system who need help... That is a legitimate question IF the person asking it was in fact doing something to help children in our country...  

You do NOT have to adopt from either the US foster care system or a foreign country to show your care and compassion for orphans. 

Sometimes it's as simple as buying something!  

Think of what you might spend money on this week:

Groceries, clothes, gas, electricity...

ALL good things...

But maybe, just maybe, there is room in your budget so that 2 orphans can have a FAMILY?!

Yes, you have probably figured out that I am blogging about my friend April, whose family is adopting TWO orphans from Ukraine who desperately want and need a family.  Who am I to sit in my comfortable house in my easy life and deny those children the chance to have a family?

MANY of my friends have stepped up for April in different ways.  Some have donated items that are being auctioned on her Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.484762421535164.114868.482330258445047&type=1)... Some have bid on those items... Others have asked for donations from friends and family... Others are praying... I'm sure some have even donated money (http://www.eliproject.org/families-in-process/the-mclaughlin-family/)

I'm trying to get the word out so that April and her family can bring their children home quickly.  One more day in an orphanage is TOO long!

So, I'm asking for your help!

Can you give?  Bid?  Share?

Of course, I am asking for your prayers as well, because we know this is GOD's battle and HE desires these children to have a forever family.

Please ask yourself what you are able to do... And then DO IT!