Chewymom

At this very moment, I am sitting in my den along with Brig and Ben. The Republican debate just ended and the Democratic one is about to begin. Ben pointed out that Brig (my son with Down syndrome, by the way) needs to pay attention because he will actually be old enough to VOTE in the presidential election! How exciting is that?

Brig responded, “I already know who to vote for. Barack Obama.”

About a year ago I made a bold move. I admitted to a small adult group from my church that I had [gasp] voted for a candidate who was not pro-life in the previous presidential election! This was quite a shock within this group. I’m not sure that anybody in our church has ever voted for someone who was not pro-life. Almost every car (er rather large SUV) in our church parking lot has a “W-The President” sticker on the back. If not that, then they have “S-The Coach.” As in Saban. University of Alabama.

One of my friends was quite alarmed at my statement, and said, “Wait! Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water!!”

So anyway, I clarified to this group that I am adamantly pro-life. I have a son with Down syndrome, and 90% or more of all prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome end in an early termination. That offends me. And I want it to stop. But I no longer think it is a reality that a presidential candidate is going to overturn Roe vs. Wade. Yes, he (or she) may be able to appoint pro-life judges. But what then? If they overturn Roe v Wade, do you not think the congress will turn right around and re-overturn it? Or that the backlash in the next election will result in a president and representatives who will set into place a more permanent proclamation of this “women’s right?”

In my opinion, the most likely way to change opinions on abortion is one person at a time. My son hopefully does that all the time. He is a testimony to the fact that people with Down syndrome can have meaningful, fulfilling lives. That as children and teenagers, they are not a burden. I mean, sure there are struggles. Hard ones! It’s a pain in the butt to juggle the therapies when they are young. It is challenging to manage behavioral issues when they have limited communication abilities. It is a headache to fight with the IEP teams. But believe me when I say that my oldest son is not the only child who has presented me with parenting challenges. My middle child has spent significantly more time at the hospital than my oldest, what with his chronic ear infections, bacteremia, multiple broken bones, and concussions. My youngest has thrown far more temper tantrums and been much more of a discipline challenge than my oldest. Etcetera.

But back to the topic. Babies. Abortion. And elections. I am almost sick of hearing about Iowa, but I have to admit that I was tickled to hear about Obama’s big win in the Caucus last night. I really, really like this guy!! I find myself nodding and grinning and agreeing wholeheartedly when he speaks. And yet, I’m not sure my acquaintances in my little southern town with their “W” stickers are ready to hear that. And I’m not sure I am ready to defend it yet. And that’s where I hope you can help out.

And by you, I mean the two of you who are still checking in here, what with my lack of blogging for the last several months.

Those of you who are personally opposed to abortion, but who are inclined to vote for a non-pro-life candidate…how do you reconcile the two? How do you intelligently discuss your views with people who are single-issue voters? I’d love some ammunition input.

I participate on a parenting message board primarily made up of Christian mommas who are pretty crunchy. There are quite a few who do not vaccinate their children. So you can imagine their outrage when it was reported that there were some tainted Hib vaccines given and that the vaccine had been recalled. The vaccines in question were tainted with the bacteria known as Bacillis cereus. Ironically, I just finished studying that little critter in depth this past semester in my microbiology class.

So imagine my surprise when I read on my crunchy parenting board that Fox News had reported that “B. cereus is a spore-making microorganism commonly associated with food that causes cervical cancer.” Okay, granted I don’t know everything there is to know about this bacteria, but surely we would not have been allowed to handle a bacteria with that kind of risk! Everything else we worked with could cause nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, etc., but cancer?? So I did some digging.

When I searched for the words “Bacillis cereus“‘ and “cervical cancer,” the only site that was a hit was Fox News. But conveniently, a few days after the initial report, they quietly changed the story and never reported loudly and clearly that they had completely screwed up. Now the story reads, “It is a spore-making microorganism commonly associated with food poisoning and causes diarrhea and vomiting in people who eat contaminated foods.”

But here’s the thing. Fox News is primarily watched by people who are a bit suspicious of other news outlets or of the government. There are a good many women on the parenting board who were up. in. arms. over this, because they think it is a conspiracy by the pharmaceutical companies and the government to sell more Gardasil, which is the vaccine designed to help prevent HPV which is a common cause of cervical abnormalities that can cancer. Fox can quietly sweep their reporting error under the rug and cry out, “But we fixed our mistake!” and yet the damage is done. People are more suspicious of a conspiracy by pharmaceuticals and the government because of false reporting.

And folks, that’s my conspiracy theory. I’m a bit suspicious that this was not just a little mistake. I have a theory that Fox News isn’t really made up of conservative people. I think it is made up of people who have figured out how to make a buck off of those who have a beef with other news outlets. And they do that by creating hype and sensationalizing news stories. Hey! Just like the “other” media outlets!

And now I’m off to tune in to NPR….

No DD5, she’s just the queen of her highschool.

Congratulations to our sweet friend “A,” class of 2008 homecoming queen!!!

During my kitchen remodel, I have hardly had time to pick up the newspaper, let alone actually read it. Which means you, my friends, have missed out on all kinds of important news stories. I am going to fix that little problem right here and now.

This morning in our paper, there’s an article titled, “Lawrence man tired of roosters crowing.” And no, my newspaper is not The Onion. Rather than write about this, it would be far funnier to just type in the first paragraph or two for you to read for yourself.

Harvey Norris said he’s going to start blasting music from his back porch to drown the sound of about 50 roosters crowing in a neighbor’s yard….
Norris said the roosters do not limit their noise to daybreak but sound off all day long.

And now you are up to speed on the really important stuff going on my town.

Let’s play a little game where we pretend that DS15 has a temper. In fact, he really does not. He was fortunate enough that he did not inherit that trait from his dear ole Mom. But we’re pretending that he did. And that he was at his high school, and someone insulted his older brother DS16 in a really bad way. Beyond that pesky little retarded word. This person said something really, really horrible, and DS15 in his anger (remember he has a temper) slugs the guy. What would happen?

The words “suspension” and “CASE” come to mind. Okay, so let’s pretend he did actually get suspended. Then a few days later he returns to school. And there’s an assembly. Do you think his principle would stand up, mention what DS15 did, and that he would get a standing ovation? I seriously doubt it. He would be viewed as a trouble-maker. It could affect what school activities he was allowed to participate in. What college he was admitted to.

So why should it be any different for Alabama state senators? Shouldn’t they be examples for our kids? And shouldn’t they be held to the same set of standards for decent behavior as others? I don’t care WHAT someone called his mother, slugging another senator was wrong on the part of Charles Bishop. If I were another senator, I would be calling for his suspension, resignation, or something. But that’s not how the GOP handled this violent senator. Nosireebob. They gave him a standing ovation.

Yet another reason I do not feel closely aligned with the Republicans–my party of 20+ years. It absolutely sickens me that Bishop’s juvenile behavior would be applauded and condoned by a party already accused of loving violence because of their stand on gun control. This is not the example I want set for my children of how to handle an insult. Not to mention it is yet another reason that when asked where I am from, I feel compelled to answer, “I live in Alabama. I am from Atlanta.”

When I was in highschool, I had the privilege of attending many Braves games in special seats. I worked at a daycare and kept the children of two Atlanta Braves players. I also went to church with a pitcher. I was quite spoiled, sitting with the players’ families behind home plate.

When I wasn’t at a game (which really, I didn’t go that often) I was doing my homework in front of the Braves’ game on TV. My absolute favorite games were when the Braves played the Dodgers. There was nothing funnier than watching Tommy Lasorda and Joe Torre go at it in front of home plate. In my memory, it happened every time the two teams played each other, although in reality it was probably only a few times.

It’s been a long time since I’ve caught a good ole baseball manager’s temper tantrum. My son pointed out this one to me though. It is Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman going absolutely nutso on the field. Watch and judge for yourself, but I think this is about the funniest baseball event I have ever seen!

We got up at 5:30 am to attend the local balloon festival. There were probably 60 hot-air balloons in all, and thousands of people there to watch. Here are a few pics of the morning:

Getting the balloons ready for launch:

As the sun rises and a crowd gathers, cradling coffee mugs, the first balloons get off the ground:

More balloons are up:

They’re all off:

DD4’s favorite balloon (they even gave out little bunny ears to the kids!):

After the last balloon drifted off, we wandered over to the booths and enjoyed a healthy breakfast of…funnel cakes. Hey, it’s just like a waffle, right??

Tuesday was hazy and overcast. The sky looked like Atlanta on a typical summer day–grayish white, no clouds, almost overcast, but the sun is shining brightly. Smoggy. Only we live in Smallsville, Alabama, and we don’t get smog.

When I went outside, it smelled like the neighbors were using their fireplace. Which would be odd, since it was 80-something degrees outside. Several hours later, I went outside and still smelled that smoky smell. As I was driving, I kept having to wash off my windows. They were covered with something….Sap? Dust?

And then at the gym I put it all together. Or rather I overheard a conversation where someone else put it all together. The wildfires in Georgia and Florida. Folks, that’s like 400+ miles away from here! It has been very windy, though, and we are in a valley, so I can see how if the smoke blew this far it would settle here. And if stuff is this smoggy/smoky/dirty here, I can’t even imagine what it looks like in, say, Savannah, GA.

I have never paid much attention to tabloid news, so I have no idea what Angelina Jolie believes about God or religion. Maybe she’s one of those scientologists, like Tom Cruise. Who knows?

Here is what I do know. Angelina has, numerous times, presented the gospel. She likely does not even know she is doing it! She is beautiful, famous, and fabulously wealthy. She has the means to choose her life and live it as she pleases. She could attempt to keep herself in the news by pulling Brittany Spears type of stunts. But she doesn’t.

It seems to me that she goes along, and other than dating Brad Pitt, lives her life outside of the media. And then she hones in on an extremely poor country. An orphanage. A specific child. She swoops in and adopts the child. Nobody knows why she chose the child she did. Before she came into Pax Thien’s life, he was a nobody. An orphan. Nobody knew who his mother was–he was completely abandoned. There was nothing he could do to change his status.

Angelina came in and chose him to be her own. Her fame, her wealth, her position, her nationality become his. He now has a family, and it is made up of other orphans, just like himself. He now has a future and a hope.

And so, even without intending to do so, Angelina has preached the love of God for His children by mirroring His adoption of us. I am blown away by the ways God allows Himself to be mirrored in nature and in His fallen world.
“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”
“The whole earth is full of His glory.”
“The heavens declare the glory of God.”
And so does Angelina.