Voting

The last two presidential elections we lived in so small of a town that there was no polling place. On years when the president or governor was elected our ballots were mailed to us and we returned them by mail. Some years there were no ballots or elections.

Last fall we moved too close to the election time so we were unable to vote last November. (You need 30 days of residency.) I was very excited to go to a polling place and vote in this year's primary and on Tuesday.

On Tuesday we had no line although there were others voting at the same time. They also remembered that we had voted in the primary because we brought the Lambs along to vote again.

Our voting place is at the public library. I love our new tradition of taking the whole family to watch us vote and then checking out books afterwards. The Lambs will see that voting is important.

It's the little things like getting an "I voted" sticker that mean a lot to me now.

Happy Birthday to Ewe!

I'm grieving the election results today. The implications of what more people in our country wanted as a worldview is frightening and immoral. Neither the unborn or disabled or elderly are protected with Obamacare or were remembered on election day. The definition of traditional marriage lost the day in our former state.

I have been too busy to plan meals for today so nothing special. Ram's schedule doesn't allow us time to go out to eat for any meals today. Each birthday is a reminder to me that I'm getting closer to the age where it will be impossible for me to hold another babe in my womb.

Our weather has drastically changed. Yesterday was 72 degrees. Today it is 60 and we expect temperatures in the 30's and rain tonight. We don't have rain often in this desert and if it does rain I feel like God will be shedding tears for us.

Yet I have a wonderful mom that wrote me a note for 39 days before my birthday. A sister that gave me chocolate for my birthday. A mother in law that gave me nice tea and other treats for my birthday. A calendar day with nothing on the schedule for me today. I'm thankful that I didn't have to go out in public, I may have said some words I regret later. I'm thankful that the election was not on my birthday. I'm thankful that Ram and I got to celebrate my birthday a few weeks ago with a date to Cherish the Ladies.

So today I went back to bed for a little this morning after I got Lamb 3 off to preschool. We opened presents when he got home. Ram made lunch. I had a nice cup of tea and some chocolate this afternoon. I'm going to make homemade pizza tonight. I'm going to plan my birthday meals for Ram's next day off. I was pleasantly surprised that when I logged onto Hotmail today it wished me a happy birthday!

I'm thankful for a husband that has a good job that he likes even if it keeps him away today and one that doesn't have to travel so will be home tonight. I'm thankful for 3 boys, one which made me a homemade card that was precious. I'm thankful for pretty independent boys now-especially to be done with diapers! I'm thankful for a church family that remembered my birthday. I'm thankful to get along with inlaws, parents, and my sister so well. I'm thankful for good health and a nice home.

And after a night of mourning, I will take a big breath and pray for President Obama and our Congressmen and Senators. I will continue to pray and fight for the rights of the unborn. After a big gulp I'll try to be thankful for the chance to pray for Obama even more than I did his first 4 years.

I know and was reminded on my birthday cards today:

"The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing." Zephaniah 3:17

"May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy, giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of light." Colossians 1:11-12

My random thoughts before election day

Life has been busy at our house the last few weeks, but the President and his family and Governor Romney and his family are in my prayers. Susan reminded me to not just pray for the election, but to pray for our country no matter what the results are.
When we were in CA, someone spoke to me and the way he spoke I thought he was for Obama. I immediately pounced on that comment and started talking about the economy etc. and why not to vote for Obama. Before I even finished he interrupted that he was joking with his comment and because of Obama not being pro-life there was no way he could vote for him. He said it was that simple-the economy, jobs, the war on terrorism, and anything else that the media says is important does not equal the importance of being pro-life.
I read an article on Mormons that are Democrats. (In another post I would like to comment on this article.) The article said some Mormons are Republican because of the pro-life issue, others are Democrats because of the works for the poor. But that person I talked to in CA is so right. It is that simple. Obama is not pro-life. It doesn't matter if Democrats do charity and welfare for the poor if babies and the elderly are killed.
DakotaPam posted this on her blog. The whole mandate and the whole issue is that simple.

My sister told me she saw on Facebook-don't forget to change your clocks for daylight savings time and change your president on Tuesday. Please don't forget to vote and be prepared for long lines on election day. Be ready to wait in those lines as long as it takes to vote if you haven't voted early.

My eyes and prayers are also on our former state of MN as they vote to keep marriage between one woman and one man. I know other states also are voting on important issues too.

Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy, Lord have mercy.

Vacation

We're home from a 5 day trip to see Ram's grandma. We're exhausted doing the trip so quickly, but have a busy weekend now. I have lots to blog about but don't see any time to blog until after all the Reformation/Halloween/Fall activities are done at church. As soon as I was caught up on posting pictures from this summer it was vacation time!

Pumpkin Farm Field Trip

Lamb 3 driving the tractor

Lamb 1 playing on the tires

Lamb 2 driving the tractor

3 Lambs on the hay bales-sorry for the glare 

3 Lambs doing the small straw bale maze-Lamb 2 was really good at this!

Riding the wagon with friends-the wagon took just us and one other family.

Lamb 1, A, T, Lamb 2, Lamb 3

Lamb 3 picking the perfect pumpkin

With our pumpkins we chose
Lamb 1, T, Lamb 3, A, Lamb 2

Lamb 3 in the corn pile

Lamb 1 in the corn pile-I had to watch him the closest, that he didn't stick corn in his ears-go figure since he is the oldest Lamb! 

Lamb 2 in the corn pile
I commented that in MN they would never have a corn pile for kids-we knew too many accidents on the farms with people in corn bins. I know this was just a few inches and parents/teachers watch their kids, but we didn't stay in the corn bin long. In MN we had a sand table filled with corn, but didn't get in the corn.

Eating popcorn and drinking juice with friends

We were on vacation when Lamb 3's preschool class went to the pumpkin farm for a field trip. So I organized our own field trip with my friend Joelle's kids. The dads had to work, but the moms and kids had a great field trip. It happened to be a day that some of the local schools had off so they opened up to the public, not just field trips while we were there. It was crowded and if I ever organize a field trip again we'll try to avoid a day that the schools are off. But we had a great time and we look forward to going again next year. The weather was beautiful the day we went-after that it got colder and rainy some days.

Zoo Field Trip

3 Lambs

On the boat ride-our first time taking this ride!

Ewe's favorite part, the penguins!

Lamb 3's preschool class went to the zoo in September. It was the perfect day-not too hot, not crowded. I had never been to the zoo for a field trip in the fall before. We had a great time. I love that we homeschool so all 3 Lambs can go on the field trips together. Unfortunately Ram had to work that day, but the rest of us had fun!

Then Lamb 2 had speech and then Grandma came over for the afternoon to visit. We went out to eat with Grandma that night. We fit a lot into one day but we had a great time!

Apple Orchard

Joelle and I took another field trip together, this time to the apple orchard.

A getting a high up apple

Isn't T cute here?

Lamb 1 picking the perfect apple

Lamb 2 and 3 picking apples

Lamb 3 pulling the wagon

Joelle, Elizabeth, Ewe
A, T, Lamb 1, Lamb 2, Lamb 3
The blue bucket is Joelle's. The other buckets are ours. We made some applesauce and ate some plain.

This was the only photo I have of Elizabeth's week long visit. I'm glad we took this photo!