Jimmy Is 3 Months Old!

Where has the time gone? Little Jimmy is 3 months old today. He continues to be a delight and the light of our lives.

He is now able to roll over and holds his head up and look around. He is using his hands more and more but he still hasn't quite "discovered" them. He's also using his legs a lot more and he will try to stand up in the tub when he gets his bath. He coos at us and is starting to "talk" to us a lot more. Daddy had him laughing in church on Sunday which cracked Mommy up. People let us know they heard him and they loved it. We don't know exactly how much he weighs but he is growing like a little weed. It's amazing how much he has changed since he was born. He's a real little person now and his personality emerges more every day. He would rather be up and playing or being held than anything. The dogs are very good with him and they don't seem to scare him at all so we're fortunate there.

It looks like we are only going to be in Wisconsin for another couple of weeks. Next week John and his boss are going to Battle Creek to get some work done and to find us housing. We have really enjoyed our sojourn here in Fond du Lac and we wouldn't have been sorry to stay. But we're glad that things are falling into place now and that John will be doing what he loves. Please keep your prayers going for all of us.

Jimmy Goes to Lambeau

On Wednesday we went to Green Bay, watched the Packers practice, and took a tour of Lambeau Field. Jimmy was a little trooper and enjoyed his day with us. Here are his impressions of the day:

Hewwo evwebuddy! My name is Jimmy. I had a gweat day wif my Mommy an' Daddy. We awe wiving in a new hows cawed Wiskonsun now. I weawy wike it. I has my own woom at wast! Dere is a pwace hewe in Wiskonsun cawed Gween Bay whewe dey pway a game cawed footbaw. Mommy sez footbaw is da bestest game evew inventud. Daddy sez hokee is. I hasn't seed any hokee yet. I has seed Daddy do basbaw games. Today Daddy tooked Mommy an' me to dis Gween Bay pwace to see dese guys cawed da Packews pwactus dere footbaw and to see dis big pwace cawed Wambo Feewd. It's where dese Packew guys pway dere games. We gotted dere an' we gotted to watch da Packew guys pwactus acwoss da stweet fwum dis Wambo Feewd pwace. It was fun! Den we wented to da Wambo Feewd an' tooked a toor uv it. It was weawy cool! We seed da stachus of a coupwa guys cawed Curwy Wambo (I fink dey nameded da pwace aftew him) and Vins Wombardee (he wuz a koch). We gotted to see pwivut box too! An' den we gotted to go down and go on da feewd where dey pway da games. At weast dat's what Mommy an' Daddy towded me. I fawed asweep aftew I eatud. But Mommy an' Daddy gotted a piktuw of aw fwee uv us dere. Den Mommy an' Daddy goed to da Pwo Shop and Mommy botted a widdle Packews hewmut fow my woom!

Aftew dat Daddy tooked us to dis pwace cawed Tony Woma's to eat. Daddy an' Mommy had big peepuw food an' I eatud my fowmuwa. I be gwad wen I can eat da big peepuw food too. Aftew Mommy an' Daddy wuz dun wif dinnew we cameded home. Mommy feeded me agin. It's bedtime now. I vewy tiwurd. I has had a big day! But it shur wuz fun wif Mommy an' Daddy. I weawy wuv dem wots and wots. Dey wuvs me too.

Pwetty soon we awe moving to anuver new hows cawed Mishagun. I hopes I wike it dere. I weawy wike it hewe in Wiskonsun. I hopes I has my own woom dere too. But I guess as wong as I have my Mommy an' Daddy an' da puppies I will be vewy happee. Nite nite, evewywun. I gonna go beddy bye now.

Wuv,
Jimmy

I'm Sick of Politics As Usual

And it's only August, nowhere near Election Day.

It's not bad enough I'm assaulted with slam ads every time I turn on my TV or radio, now I get all this crap by email. I'm sick of it. Even when I send out emails and ask people not to send me that stuff I still get it. I guess I'm on some kind of group list.

I'm not going to go into my personal political affiliation or ideology. That's not anybody's business but mine and the voting booth's. My view of politicians as a breed is pretty cynical. I think that anyone who has been in either house of Congress for more than 10 seconds is probably a criminal and deserves to be lined up along the wall and shot. I don't believe there is any such thing as an honest politician. Every last one of them has sold out their ideals or beliefs, every one has prostituted him- or herself in the interest of getting what they want. There's more pork in a Congressional bill than on a pig farm. And our "public servants" are only serving themselves, the public be damned. Well I'd like to say to them, "You're a public servant, I'm the public. You're fired!" See? I told you I was cynical. I also believe that even though our political system isn't perfect, it's better than the majority of governments in the world.

After listening to the ads so far (and they haven't even gotten really nasty yet) and being bombarded with email, my question is: If Obama is as evil as McCain paints him and McCain is as evil as Obama paints him, why would you vote for either one? Hmm. Could it possibly be that the ad agencies who produce these ads are engaging in a little hyperbole? Is it possible that the emails that are sent out as "fact" are just a bit slanted toward the sender's own political view? Nah! Nobody would ever do that! Not here in the land of free speech. It has been my experience that when extremes are presented on either side that the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

I don't know whether President McCain will be better than President Obama or if President Obama will be better than President McCain. I don't think that with either one things will get better for my personal economy; I'm the only one who can change that. I don't think that either one of them will make our country more secure; if anyone wants to launch a terrorist attack against the U.S. then a way will be found to do it. I don't think either one of them will be able to successfully end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and bring our troops home; we're too deeply involved for a quick solution within the next four years.

I think one of the biggest problems with this country is that the majority of its citzens expect the government to do it all and are too lazy to hold that same government accountable when it fails to do what its citzens want. Too many people complain about our government and too few do what is necessary to change it, namely, VOTE!

So once again I'm left with a choice for president between two people I'm not crazy about. It would just be so easy to not vote at all but I won't do that. I will vote. I will vote to preserve my right to bitch about the presidential administration and Congress we get, whether I am part of the majority that put it in office or not. I will vote because it is my right and duty as a citizen of the United States and if I don't then I might as well move to a country run by a military dictatorship that doesn't believe in allowing its citizens to have a say. I will vote because I am still idealistic enough to believe that my vote can make a difference. I will vote because it's the best way I can express my approval or disapproval of our elected officials. Yes, I will vote. But this year I think I'll vote for Darth Vader. I'm tired of voting for the lesser of two evils.