John Wayne for President

My friend Thad put up a post on his blog about Obama and asked for my response. Here it is. I'm not sure that it will sit well with everyone who visits me or those who are not realists and choose to believe that race is no longer an issue. Also, it's quite different than my usual homey observations and I admit I had to dust out some cobwebs.

Let me begin by saying that Barak Obama is one heck of an orator and debater, alleged plagiarizing aside. Apparently, so is his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Here's a full quote from his speech, parts of which you may have already heard: "The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing 'God Bless America'? No, no, no, God damn America, that's in the Bible for killing innocent people. God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme."

I have no argument that God will damn a nation for killing and not loving your neighbor and pride and intolerance, etc., etc., etc. Look at Sodom and Gomorrah and the entire kingdom of Israel. However, I believe that this kind of language is inciteful and doesn't belong in a church for a number of reasons.

First, it's really political. Politics and religion don't mix. Look it up in any one of the documents written by our founding fathers. This is something that my own church found out the hard way while in its youth. You're left to ask, what does the church endorse? That means God endorses it, too, right? Well, that statement tells me that members of that church believe that America is evil, she doesn't deserve my respect or support and that the government is purposefully peddling drugs to minorities just to lock them up in prison. If that's what Rev. Wright believes, I don't have a problem with it. It becomes a problem when he uses a religious forum to tell this to people of faith...people who believe what he says and hear it as doctrine whether it's opinion or not.

Second, a statement like that is also a call to action...the wrong action. Rev. Wright was part of the Civil Rights movement. He obviously wants change, heck so do I. But I'm not going to pit white against black to get it. That statement is so full of animosity. The Lord would teach to love your neighbor and respect the laws of the land. America is "damned" because of it's people...white, black and otherwise...who twist the laws out of greed and self-satisfaction. The Lord would teach us to respect America (give unto Caesar that which is Caesar's) while peacefully, albeit firmly, pushing for more moral leaders.

So, that said, let me ask you this. If this is what is preached from the pulpit on a regular basis (and I say if, because I don't know), is it possible for Obama to make it through 20+ years as a member and not have this same view of the world? Probably not. A lot of people are comparing this to the scandals in the Catholic church...Does a parishioner leave his faith because of something one person, a leader, does? I think that's a stupid thing to do. You don't become inactive in your faith because of imperfect people. You discipline them and move on. But we're comparing apples to oranges. Child abuse was never preached from the pulpit during Mass. Therefore, it is not interpreted as a tenet of Catholicism. Because Rev. Wright unleashed opinion during a church service, his opinion is now viewed by the world as a standard of belief for that church. If Obama truly cared for his pastor and his church, as he claims to, but not for his pastor's rhetoric, Obama should have spoken privately with Rev. Wright long, long ago and urged him to stick to doctrine or step down.

Ultimately, I agree with Thad. Still, it may surprise somr of you to know this doesn't really bother me as much as it does others...only because I feel like there's more to this than what I'm hearing. Once I research it out, it may hit the fan. Who knows. But the main reason I say Nobama for President is that he is inexperienced and naive. Sometimes I think he's looking through rose-colored glasses. He states the problem, talks a lot about the ideal, but doesn't really talk about the in between stuff. Mostly, I get "If I'm president everyone will get along and be rich and prosperous and there will be no more war and we won't even need a military." Puh-lease. Not happening until Armageddon and the earth has been destroyed by fire (for which we will need a military, oh president-hopeful).

Here's the ultimate dilemma...vote for Hillary, the most unfeminine feminist ever; vote for Obama who doesn't know what he's doing unless someone else has already thought of it; or vote for McCain who is basically a Bush-type, of whom I grow weary. My dream president is really John Wayne (another blog entry entirely), but since that's not possible, I'll just have to find a way to make due with what's already there. Pretty much nothing.

Easter Day

Here are some more Easter pictures, as promised. Olivia slept through the Easter egg hunt, but she'll be able to participate next year! It was great to see the family. We even got to see Tracy and Matt and their two girls and Beverly (Tracy and Beverly are sisters and are Aubrey's cousins...Tracy and Aubrey graduated HS together). Olivia has some really sweet cousins who play really well with her...so far!

Pre-Easter bath...she looks pretty excited!

Investigating her Easter basket.

Reading her card from Grandma Charmaine & Papa Kerry.

Spring outfits...we gave her the flower dress, my parents gave her the rest.

At Nana and Pops' house (Aubrey's parents).

Olivia and Natalee. Natalee always pets Olivia on the head.

Olivia chewed on this all afternoon, literally.

Olivia and Ty. He really did a good job sharing with her.

Olivia's newest cousin and Ty's baby brother, James "Jim" Martin Vick.

Easter Pictures

Saturday we took Olivia to The Quad on campus to take some pictures of her in her Easter dress (courtesy of Grandma Charmaine). The tulips were in bloom and the pictures came out with some really pretty colors. I played with the tones on these pictures. I'm such a color freak...I guess that comes from working with B&W pictures at a paper. Anyway, my cousin does great stuff with tone, so I thought I'd take the plunge. Not bad, but I can't break my color addiction! Anyway, the rest of the pics are in the movie...they're my favorite out of about 200 or so. For some reason, when I transferred the pictures to the movie maker, the images weren't as sharp. Oh, well. We also went to Aubrey's parents after church and I got some cute pictures of Olivia with her cousins. I'll post those later, though. I'm doing good just getting these done!

Is this really the problem?

Several days ago (maybe a week ago...I have no concept of time...), I read a newspaper story about some SIXTH GRADERS, two boys and two girls, who exchanged nude pictures via a cell phone during school. Actually, just the girls sent pictures of themselves. One took the boy's phone into the bathroom, took the pictures and gave it back. Cell phones are not allowed in schools down here, which really was what the story revolved around. One of the closing comments, given by the police chief, said that parents have to realize that when they give they're teenagers a cell phone, they're probably going to get into trouble with it.

Are you kidding me?!?!

If your kids did that, what would be more upsetting to you? That they took the cell phone to school when they weren't supposed to or that your daughter took NUDE PICTURES of herself, WILLINGLY, and shared them with a boy and, therefore, every other boy in her grade. Think, people, think!

Not only does this story tell me what little self-esteem those girls have, but it also tells me what little respect those boys have for women. Both of those things are developed at home...not at school.

Yesterday at Wal-Mart, I saw a pregnant teenager shopping with her mother. I wanted to cry. I immediately thought about that story I read in the paper. What do you think the chances are that those girls wind up pregnant or graduate with an STD? The world has absolutely no respect for sex. I'm worried about what parents are teaching their kids. I read that one mom actually...conciously...left the sex education of her daughter up to the local school. Her 14-year-old actually thought that she couldn't get pregnant if she held an aspirin between her knees...because that's what her dad told her. GOLLY!

It is so natural for teens to be interested in sex, and that's fine. Those raging hormones insure survival of the human race. However, there is a time and a place for everything. If a person doesn't have control over his or her emotions and physical urges, then chances are that person isn't ready for sex anyway.

So, I've made up my mind that my kids will get a serious sex talk when it is time. I will (try to) patiently explain why they need to wait until marriage touching on physical, emotional and spiritual reasons. When I'm done, Aubrey will back me up by saying to our girls, "Do it and I'll kill you," and to our boys, "Touch a girl and it's over." Then he'll meet every date at the door with the purple softball bat we have in our hall closet.

To avoid hypocrisy...

I am no hypocrite! That statement pretty much voids itself out, doesn't it? But, to avoid being a hypocrite when it comes to posting pictures, here are some of Olivia. I gave Tracy a hard time about not posting pictures of Izzy so I figured I better get these up before she dished it all back! If you look close enough, you can see that she's been crying. Looking at herself always cheers her up!

Call me anything you want except late for supper

So this is not really what I would call a super interesting post. It's just a little peek at what I've been thinking about lately. Some of my thoughts are super deep (like do babies think in pictures, words, colors, impressions, the Adamic language?) and some of them are super shallow, like the one I'll share with you now. Many of you...nay, the majority of you...who read this blog call me by my given name...Cheyenne. You should know that you, my friends, are an anomoly in my world. Aubrey rarely calls me Cheyenne, my family never calls me Cheyenne. Tracy and Laura, steadfast and true, never really call me Cheyenne either. In fact, most of my high school classmates don't really call me Cheyenne. What made me think of this? Several emails, phone messages and a blog communication that didn't use my real name even once. If I had been friends with The Man With No Name or the Pale Rider, I could have given them one of mine. There are many to choose from.

1. Shiny-Sue-the-Buckaroo: used first by my Grandpa and is the most generally accepted nickname in my ENTIRE family.
2. Shiny: a nickname for the afore mentioned nickname. Nobody really knows how to spell this, so it can appear as Shiney, Cheyne or Cheynie. It is also the name on my Robert R. Rex family reunion t-shirt. EVERYBODY related to me calls me this or another variation.
3. Shiny-Sue: another variation.
4. Buckaroo: another variation.
5. Chey: pronounced "shy" and used by most of my high school classmates and Laura Lou (best friend from college). It is also a nickname for nickname #6.
6. Chey-Chey: really the same nickname as #5, just said twice. This was the original nickname given to me in third grade. They said my name was too long. Apparently, so was this one (see #5).
7. Chey: what, didn't I already list this? This one is pronounced "shay" and used only by Tracy (best friend from college). She is, in fact, the only one who is really permitted to use it.
8. CK: also a nickname from high school (my maiden name is Kearl, hence the CK). This name really became popular with the fragrance CK1 by Calvin Klein.
9. Cheynanners: mostly used by Tiffany (best friend and cousin). When we were little, she couldn't say my name so she called me Cheynanne. The evolution seems obvious. It also goes well with Bananners.
10. Babe: used almost solely by my hubby, although my mom uses it as a blanket nickname for all her girls. Aubrey also uses Baby and doesn't call me Cheyenne unless he's trying to get my attention.

There are more, but these are really the top ten. Did I leave any of your nicknames out? Like I said, not a particularly interesting post, but it is what I'm thinking about. As I compiled this list, I realized that most of these nicknames have nicknames of their own. It's a snowball effect that just won't stop. I have neices and nephews who call me Aunt Chey ("shy" not "shay"). But that's OK with me. I love nicknames (see my Neighborhood Gossip links next door) and mine just mean that I'm totally loved and cool enough to be known by something other than my given and family name. Like P. Diddy or Fresh Prince. It's really all my ego wants in life!

House of Junk

About a month ago, I read on my friend Courtney's blog that she was going to clean out her basement and have a garage sale. I want to have one, too, so I mentioned to her the possibility of me joining her, since I probably wouldn't have enough stuff to sell on my own. Boy, howdy, was I ever wrong! I started going through clothes Saturday and already have piles and piles of them to sell. I threw even more of them away, including my favorite pair of jeans from high school that have the seat totally ripped out of them. Why did I keep those? Why is the sky blue? Only a true nerd knows. I've designated the guest room as my yard sale stock room and the double bed is already filling up with piles fast. I didn't even make it through the closet and I haven't even touched the garage. Good grief! Now that my hidden piles of junk are exposed I absolutely cannot wait to get rid of them all! It will be the first step in my spring rennovation of yard and house!

Too much of a good swing isn't always good

Many years ago, Aubrey bought me a swing for my birthday. I absolutely love it! Olivia loves it too, and when she's having an unusually fussy day or won't go to sleep, we can always count on the swing to calm her down. I like to just sit outside and read or pet the dogs with my feet (so my hands don't get dirty). Aye, but here's the rub. Swinging makes me sick. Yes, that's right. For the same reason I can't ride roller coasters, ride in the back seat of a car or ride my bike with my eyes closed I cannot swing for very long. I get queezy and my head starts to pound. I also get extremely sleepy. So, here I am, just in from a little swinging with a totally hyped-up girl counting the minutes until she takes a nap and I can take one with her. Was it even worth it? Heck ya!