Obama speech....

I like to DVR Glen Beck and watch it when I am doing laundry or late at night. I was watching his program from yesterday and he played part of a speech from Obama that really shocked me...so I googled it. My parents are worried about where the country is heading with this President and I really don't understand enough to be worried...I think...but this pretty easy to understand.

Glen Beck and other passionate journalists can sometimes take quotes out of context and when I hear something as radical as this I am curious what the whole speech was about and if it would take on another meaning.....so anyway...here is the quote....at the bottom is the link to the page I copied this story. It also has a video of Obama giving the speech.



Christian leaders in the U.S. are demanding that Sen. Barack Obama apologize for comments he made referring to babies as a “punishment”.
While addressing a campaign rally in Pennsylvania last weekend, Sen. Obama said, "When it comes specifically to HIV/AIDS, the most important prevention is education, which should include -- which should include abstinence education and teaching the children -- teaching children, you know, that sex is not something casual," he said.
"But it should also include -- it should also include other, you know, information about contraception because, look, I've got two daughters. 9 years old and 6 years old," he added.
"I am going to teach them first of all about values and morals. But if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby," Obama said.
The Christian Defense Coalition responded to Obama by saying that his comment is “not only a slap in the face to every child born to a young mother, but it diminishes the great joy that children bring to their families regardless of the circumstances in which they were born.”
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, also commented on Obama’s campaign for change, saying, "Senator Obama talks about bringing change to America. However, when it comes to his policies on abortion he is strictly 'old school.' Every recent poll shows that America's emerging generation is embracing a culture of life and desires and end to the violence that has resulted in the deaths of over 50,000,000 innocent children and wounded so many women.”
A demonstration protesting Obama’s pro-abortion policies was held yesterday at 3:30pm at West Chester University, where Sen. Obama made a campaign stop

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12231

Barbie vs. Obie

I guess Obie and Barbie had a fight.

Growing up....

Sophia is in the 4th grade now and apparently this is the grade where the students can join lots of clubs.....there is the

Academic Bowl....

the Running Club

the Student Council...

and of course Chorus.

The only club I knew about was Chorus. I signed a paper agreeing to let her participate and loved how excited she was about participating! I learned about the other clubs through friends. I was a little suprised that she didn't want to do Student Council...I mean they get out of class to do special projects for the teachers! I LOVED any opprotunity to get out of class!

I questioned Sophia why she didn't want to join any of the others clubs.

"Mom, I don't want to be so busy. I already have ballet and chorus. That is enough. I want to have one afternoon to spend at home."

Wow. Spoken like a true grown-up-almost-10-year-old.

My answer was: "You are so right Baby Girl."

Adoption....

I have been reading a little on this blog. It is an amazing adoption story. They are in a court battle with the birthfather right now after the baby being in their home for a year! (say a prayer for them please!)

They have an open relationship with their son's birthmom which is so wonderful. There are too many stereotypes out there surrounding birthparents. I hope you have a chance you read some of their story and maybe it will change any misconceptions you(or those around you) may have about the whole open adoption process.

Also..there is a cool video on the sidebar that I tried to post on here....but I burned my brain trying to figure out how to do it...so just click on it there and watch it please:)

Sophia's and Nate's birthparents are amazing people. We pray for them and miss them. How lucky we are to know them.

The Awesome "Great Wolf Lodge"!!

Look at the cool place we got to visit last month! It is the Great Wolf Lodge in Concord, NC. From the moment we drove onto the property we were wondering when we could go back!

Nate of course has to frown since we asked him to smile....but he is really enjoying himself!

We got there late on Friday night but were greeted by such friendly staff who were eager to get us set up for our weekend. We were blown away when we opened the door to our room....it was beautiful! There was even a little package waiting for the kids....2 cute stuffed wolves!

The kids had their own space even with a small flat screen TV! It was sooooo cool!

And when we thought it couldn't get any better we saw these....4 giant cookies from their bakery and 4 chocolate covered strawberries! Oh...and these coupons for a free wand...this really got the kids excited for the morning so they could go see what the wands could do!!

I guess I could have put these in better order;) Here are some more pics of our room.

That white blob on the bed was a towel folded into a wolf shape with goggles on:) it doesn't show up really well on this picture!

Nate didn't want to hold his wolf so I did. I am also sporting the cool wristband that acted as our room key and also could be connected to our credit card for purchases all around the lodge! Someone thought that through for sure! I mean....who wants to lug your purse/wallet to a waterpark and worry about it getting stolen...take care of that with the flick of the wrist....or maybe a wave under the red scanner-thingy at the register;) very cool.

Isn't this place gorgeous?

Throughout the day there are different programs in this lobby. We are standing in front of this cool treehouse where characters sing and tell stories. I believe there were 2 shows a day. We didn't make it there...too busy playing MagiQuest!

Magi Quest

One of the coolest part of our stay was the Magi Quest game. As I mentioned before, the kids got a certificate good for a wand and the booklet and could not WAIT for the magiquest store to open the next morning so they could get their wands and find out what this whole game was about!

Basically it is a magic themed, interactive game that is played with these wand shaped remote controls. The guidebooks are called "The Ancient Book of Wisdom" and included all the clues to complete a certain quest. At the end of each quest the Magi was rewarded with a "rune...which is the most valuable commodity in MagiQuest. These ancient sources of magic will give your wand additional powers once you possess them"...taken straight from the booklet.

After purchasing your wand they program it with your name and Magi name....then it is ready to help you on your quests. The 2-4th floors contain pictures, statues and chests that contain the clues for completing the quests. Each floor has 2 hallways with different names like "Forgotten Halls" or "Piney Path" or "Enchanted Woods".

This "forest" is where you begin. All the chests, pictures, statues, etc were activated when you waved your wand at them... but before you started on a quest you had to "accept" it first (we learned that the hard way...thought we were through with a quest and then nothing was showing up on our screen!). To do this you came to a tree and selected the one you want to start with. One cool part is that your wand saves your quests so the next time you can resume right where you left off!

Magi "Sofiana" carefully chosing her next quest! You also came to the trees to check your status on a certain quest. We did a lot of running up and down to the 2-4th floors. There was an elevator but it was super slow and the stairs were located right off the hallway (see that exit sign?) so it was quicker to just take the stairs. And it was great for the kids to actually work for their fun!

When you pointed your wand at this statue it would light up and say "you have found the ___!". It was really cool. All the hallways were painted with different scenes patterned after their names...I believe this was either the Enchanted or Tangled Woods.

These hallways were right off our rooms so we felt safe letting them go out by themselves. This was the first thing Sophia wanted to do each morning. They were never far away and could easily be found. There were lots and lots of other children out doing the same thing. Another cool part was watching the kids helping each other. Sophia was always with a new group of kids when we would find her. She was either helping them or they were helping her.