FLDS

I have been following the FLDS story that broke early last week in the news. If you have not seen this, a sixteen year old girl in Texas who is a member of this church that lives within a compound called 911 saying that she was abused. This sect has a long history of polygamy, and marrying girls within the church as young as fourteen.

The first thing I ask, is why anyone would want to have more than one wife. Seriously, I live with me, and who would want more that one of me.

All joking aside, the police came in and took custody of over 400 or so children. Our the Today show, Guy Choate, the director of Texas State Bar stated that over 300 attorneys donated their time to serve the children. "There is no way we can go child by child, time does not allow for that."

Now all of these children are living in a stadium, with out their parents, and basically the courts are saying they are not worth their individual time in court. This just baffles me. The state can go in and take all of them, based on a phone call from one individual, and instead of looking at them case by case, they are lumping them into one group.

I do not understand FLDS, or LDS for that matter. I thought this was the land of the free, and was our country not founded by people escaping religious persecution? If these states want to end underage marriage they need to raise the marriage age to 18. I pray no children have been abused in this case, and what ever happens is a good outcome for all involved. If these children truly were abused, how will the foster system of Texas ever help them adjust to mainstream life?

You always have one more chance to learn something new

If you have not heard of Randy Pausch you should. Mike lead me to a man that I can not just read enough about.

If you live in a family touched by cancer, you will want to read his story.

Randy, like my mom, has the undeniable will to live in the shadow of death. People like this give me the hope to know that their is beauty and life in all things.

http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

I pray each day for Randy, his wife Jai, and there three little ones.

My childhood dreams....

To be Mary Lou Retton. (My parents allowed me years of gymnastics lessons)

To teach and to be with children. (I get to do this each and everyday)

To be a Radio City Rockette. (Well, since I never grew past five foot, three inches, but some day I will make it to New York City!)

To be a mom. (I always wanted to be a mommy, and now I am, for better and for worse.)

If I know any thing, life is to short. Do not sweat the small stuff, and live each day to the fullest.

Weight Watchers Update

Well since March 24 I am down 5 pounds. I have actually stuck with the program. I am not very good about entering my points but I am acutely aware of how much I am eating.

I have also been walking around three miles Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings. I hope to add something Tuesday and Thursday nights soon. I wish I could do a gym membership but it is just not in the cards financially.

So there it is, no size change to report, but I think I may take my measurements to track those.

Best wishes to all others who are battling the bulge.

A weekend with purpose

On Friday Libby spent the night with Papaw and Mike and I went out to dinner at Olive Garden. It was nice to have some time just the two of us.

Saturday started off a little rocky, but by noon things were going well. Mike built a brick and river stone pad for the grill to sit on in what was my former herb garden that I never planted an herb in. I cleaned out the area around the cellar door which was long over do. It is a little nook and it was built up with leaves and dryer lint. Libby played outside well while we worked. We then headed out to the new home improvement store, Menard's. This place was huge, it makes Lowe's look like the corner hardware store. Best of all they have a covered garden center and it is set up so kids can play on the swing set displays. Libby and I played for about a half on hour and Mike shopped for sand and concrete.

Last night Melissa came over and we had fajitas, they were so good!

Marinate a flank steak in 1/4 vegetable oil, 1/2 cup of lime juice, 2 teaspoons of chili powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and three cloves of garlic.
Grill steak, a green pepper, a red pepper, sweet onion. Serve on flour tortillas with sour cream, cheese, and salsa. Goes great with a good bottle of wine!

Today Mike tilled the garden, and I cleaned out all of the flower beds. We also made three more stepping stones for a path in the yard.

Tonight we watched the Water House, it was a good story.

Right now I am off to do some homework, Libby is asleep, and Mike is switching from Star Wars #3, Keeping up with Kardashians, and Lord of Rings Return of the King.

Have a great week all.