Hope

My thoughts and feelings today...

I love my country. I am proud to be an American. Old Glory is on my wall year-round. I particularily chose old glory because it reminds me of our founding fathers and the constitution upon which our freedom is spelled out. There is no doubt in my mind that it is a divinely inspired document.

I want my children to know that I voted. Their grandparents drove 45 minutes to vote, and offered to babysit so I could vote too. I want my children to know that even though I disagree with many of the laws of the land, I make every effort to obey the law. I follow the speed limit. I pay taxes. A majority of my customers pay in cash and I report every penny, even though I do not believe in the majority of the taxes that are placed upon us. I believe in being honest. This country has the potential for such greatness because of the freedoms we have, freedoms that were fought so hard for. I belive we need to protect those freedoms and exercise them.

I believe in a small national goverment. I belive in democracy. I believe in freedom of speech, the right to bear arms, the right to worship my Heavenly Father in the way I choose. I have the right to vote. I have the right to make choices in my life, and those choices have consequinces that I can't choose. I believe that I (and all women) have the right to choose when it comes to the bearing of children. I believe that that choice is made before conception, and that everything following is a natural consequence of that choice. I believe that children are the most beautiful of all gifts we are given, and the means at which they come to us is sacred and should be protected and cherished and treated as special between a husband and wife.

I believe in paying down debts and living an honest life- not building up false illusions of wealth on borrowed money. I belive in work and justice. I also belive in mercy and compassion. I belive that communities and churches should be in charge of the welfare of those in need, not the government. I belive we are all deserving of equal opportunities for success in life. I do not believe we should feel entitled to anything. I belive in basic economic principles... There is no such thing as a free lunch. There is always an opportunity cost to consider.

I know that God is the author of all our blessings. When we forget that then trials and humility follow. I believe that as a nation, our poor economy is a chance for us to be humbled. Maybe this can be a good thing. Wealth is not happiness. I believe that living with a heart of gratitude is more enjoyable than living with a padded wallett.

In a world where good is called evil, and evil good I hope my girls will never falter in doing good. I hope they are firm in their faith. I know that teaching and caring for my children is the most important thing I will ever do and I want them to have happiness in their lives. Living my beliefs and my values are the cause of my personal happiness, and not living these things have been cause of sorrow. I know that the atonement is real and that Heavenly Father has blessed us with the opportunity to experience sorrow so that we might experience humility and be able to change and do good once more. I have true hope for me and my family, and also for my country. I hope that we can be humble and that we can make good decisions for us and future generations. I hope...

A good try...

Dennis' birthday was almost a month ago. I struggle.

I thought I'd be a good wife and bake him a coffee cake for breakfast since we weren't having an actual party of any kind. I even found some candles.

I went to go get the camera and came back to find all the candles had fallen over... Upon closer inspection you could see what happened to them. Next year I'll remember to let the cake cool before inserting wax candles, and then maybe we won't have to eat melted wax frosting in our cake. Go figure.

Happy Birthday Dear!

And here's a scowl from Maylee... It's as if she's saying, "duh, Mom!"