Open Letter to the President-Elect

Dear Mr. Obama,

I understand your desire for young women to not to have to suffer the consequences of sometimes horrible mistakes or, even worse, acts of violence. I am thankful to know that you care deeply about American women.

Having said that, please stop supporting FOCA. This legislation is not about protecting the rights of women; it is about worshiping the gods of convenience and fear.

You yourself have said that you did not support "anti abortion" legislation in Illinois because there was already good legislation on record. If it is good legislation, don't change it by making federal laws that supersede state laws. Let the states decide for themselves what is best.

Besides, if you truly look at what the procedure entails, you would see that abortion is ripping living beings apart limb by limb into small pieces. These living beings have beating hearts, brain waves and can feel pain and fear. In some horrible circumstances, these living beings are killed after being partially born, their skulls imploded.

If this happened to puppies, the nation would be outraged! Why then, is it OK to do this to innocent children?

The day babies are born, everyone knows they are alive. What about the day before that? Or the day before that? How far back do you go before they are no longer alive? I mean the heart beats at 7 weeks.

If you use "being able to breath on their own" as a sign of life, what about the born babies, children and even adults that are on respirators? Are they not alive, even after they are born?

Why then is there such a discrepancy between when they are alive or not? I believe it is whether or not they are wanted by their mother.

Mr. Obama, these children have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness just as much as someone who who has been born but cannot breath, walk, talk or feed themselves.

I implore you to follow the logic of those who support FOCA. The logical conclusion is that it will eventually be OK to murder someone because you do not like them.

I know that you consider yourself a Christian, and I plead with you to read the book of Judges. All through the book, the history of the new nation of Israel (about our age, actually) states how they kept turning away from God. One of the things they kept doing was worshiping other gods and sacrificing their children to them. Are we not doing the same thing?

God removed His blessing from Israel, and so He has been removing His hand of blessing from us. The good news, however, is that they kept turning back to Him, and so can we.

I beg you to see the signs, the things happening right in front of you. You are an extremely intelligent man, and I know you can see it if you look.

Please look.

Everything hinges on what you do. The lives of thousands of children depend on you.

May God bless you and give you His wisdom,
Brandie Longoria

All Males Take Warning!!!

I have a subject to discuss that many men may find squeamish, yet it is a profound truth that mommies of the world have pondered throughout the ages.

How do you explain the "feminine sanitary products" that are in your bathroom to preschoolers?

Ponygirl will be ten in a week and is old enough to have at least a modest knowledge of the products and how they are used. Superhero and Princess, on the other hand, would prefer to use them as building blocks, cannons and "special" napkins for the table.

What troubles me the most is that they ask you about them at times you are unprepared for, like when the mailman answers the door and out comes your charming son from the bathroom with a tampon ( I mean missile) sticking out of his nose. "Hey Mom, can I use this?"

Or remember those special napkins? Just be very careful when you ask your three year old to set the table when company is there. You may just be surprised when you sit down to a nice meal with your pastor and his wife.

**sigh**

Children.

Yes, my sisters, there is a God, and He has an incredible sense of humor.

Gingerbread House Part 1

Usually I'm a really laid back sort of gal. But not when it comes to making gingerbread houses.

I have always loved making these wonderful little things, although I make them a bit differently. I usually use graham crackers. I just find them easier to build with, and one less item I have to do from scratch. Yea, you can get those kits from the store, but then it's pre-made and you don't have any say about what it's going to look like, etc.

Well this year I decided to let my kids each have their own house to decorate. They can each do whatever they want with it, and I don't care if they all look goofy. However, not wanting ladybug to feel deprived I decided to "help" her with hers (alright, I'm doing it for her).

So last night I got out the graham crackers, selected a house shape and started to work a brick pattern around the house.

I didn't have any frosting...out came the glue gun! (I can hear Tim Allen in the background making gorilla noises)

The edges weren't neat and tidy so I started mitering them.

Yes! I admit it! I mitered the edges of my graham cracker house!!

I feel so much better now. I can go make frosting for the Necco roof (they make great roof tiles).

In volume 2, I will discuss the difficulties of making chimneys with Hershey's kisses, and hopefully have a completed house to photograph.

Little Old Lady from...the dish department

I heard Todd Wilson talk about his book Lies Homeschooling Moms Believe at a homeschool expo a couple of years ago. He talked about this phenomenon of the husband loading the dishwasher wrong and getting in trouble for it. I laughed with everybody else, thinking how superior I am to all those moms who didn't get it.

Well, everyone...I've been humbled again.

Yes, God showed me my uptight and arrogant behavior in the dish washing department.

But in my defense, I will say I thought this was different! My husband isn't the culprit. It's a cute little old lady.

Yes, I have a cute little old (I can say old, she's 91) lady that lives with us and does our dishes. Now before you all stone me for elder abuse, she wants to do it. As a matter of fact, she demanded to be allowed to wash dishes when she moved in with us. That was almost eight years and two sets of dishes ago. She doesn't just wash the dishes, she breaks them too. I don't like the way she does the dishes. She pre-washes them, which is a good thing because if you saw the layers of dishes on the top rack alone, you would wonder how anything gets clean.

But I digress.

I didn't realize that I was just as guilty as the woman who won't let her husband help because he loads the dishes wrong.

So I confessed to the Lord that I am selfish in wanting things done, my way. I refuse to be pulled into the deception that I have control over my dishes anymore. They are just stuff, and she is 91.

I buy Corning Ware now. It hurts the pocket book a little less.

Heeeere's......... Lady Bug

It happened.

Ladybug became a person.

In an instantaneous flash of time, she transformed from a toddler that laughed at the antics of others to a young child that generates laughter in everyone around her. On purpose.

Tonight, we were sitting around the kitchen table attempting to have a family devotion and hubby asked some questions related to the story. Without batting an eyelash, Ladybug raises her hand and shouts, "ME!" to get hubby to call on her for the answer.

Now, two things about this seem strange to me.

First, since we homeschool, rarely do any of my children raise their hands to answer a question, and Ladybug is too young to get this from her social groups. Keep in mind, she's not even 2 years old yet.

Second, this is a child that has many words, but has yet to formulate sentences.

Where does a 20-month-old child get the personality that makes an entire family, even cranky whiny people, smile, giggle and laugh so hard that we all need to excuse ourselves to the restroom?

I would like to take credit for this wonderful personality, say that she inherited it from me. And while it is true that one of my greatest desires in life is to make people laugh, I cannot take credit for this bundle of wonderfulness before me. She is entirely her own unique set of likes, dislikes, highs and lows.

For instance: The girl likes tofu, and doesn't care for meat. She seems to be turning out to be a natural vegetarian. I am a meat eater. This does not come from me.

Also, at 18 months old, this child could hold a writing utensil correctly and sit for hours drawing and "writing." Of course that would be great, but her "artistic" ability unfortunately is not limited to paper. She is not happy unless she and at least three other surfaces in the house contain marker, crayon or something else that refuses to be removed. This does not come from me. I think it's rather telling that my toddler has a longer attention span than me.

And that's just a couple examples. Looking at my children reaffirms my belief that God has a big sense of humor.

I know he laughs at Ladybug; He delights in her... and so do I.