Tidbits.

- I don't know who invented Daylight Savings Time, but I am 110% against it this year.  Not only does it jack with the boys' schedules, but I feel like it has put me out of whack as well.  Not to mention it makes running impossible, unless I want to run in the dark, which I won't.  Which means running on the treadmill.  Which I hate.  AND it's pitch dark at 5:15 when Tyler gets home.  Ugh.

- Whoops, sorry to start on a negative note.  Who is excited for the Election results tonight?!  This girl!  I feel so honored, so thankful, so privileged to have a voice and the freedom to vote.  I am so confident that our God is BIGGER than any candidate, and has complete control no matter the results.  I'm just ready for all the political garbage to be over!

- Tyler and I went on an unexpected date Friday night.  Sushi and to a coffee shop to play a board game.  Seriously my IDEAL date.  Coffee, games, and the man I love.  So perfect.

- Seriously, sometimes my OCD side just cannot handle the way kids play with toys.  Why can't we just sit and play with ONE toy at a time, and instead we have to dump ALLLL of them out.  And some days I really just want to throw away every single toy we have.
But then there's this crazy side of me:: I love to clean up our playroom.  Putting all of the toys in a basket, sorting them, and putting them where they belong makes me happy.  Until it needs done again 10 minutes later.

- I still haven't quite wrapped my head around having a 2 year old.  My littlest child is 2.  It feels weird to not have anyone younger than 2 in our house.  This probably makes no sense to anyone else but me, but I just haven't quite wrapped my mind around it yet.  Did I tell you we ate at T-Rex the night of Cohen's birthday party and my boys were freaked out the entire time?  We just went there a few months ago and they both LOVED it, and then we go on Cohen's birthday and they are scared.  Of course it works out that way!

- Lots of exciting things happening in my role at church lately and I'm so excited about what God has laid on my heart.  Nothing I can share yet... but I will soon.  :)

- The last 5 weekends have been spent shooting weddings, so to say I am excited for a break this weekend is an understatement!  (Leah, I have no idea how you did it all.summer.long!)  My parents are coming to town, and my Dad, brother, and I are running a 10k!  I am ready for it to be over so I can stop worrying about not being able to run it.  :)

- Did you enter my giveaway yet?  $50 off your Christmas cards?  Do it!

- I am "on call" the next couple weeks for an upcoming birth (for photography), and I am so excited!  I'm a little freaked out it will happen in the middle of the night and I won't hear my phone ring, but I've been cranking my phone up to full volume so I'm fairly certain it won't be a problem.  I should probably be more worried about waking up my entire household when my ringer does go off.

- I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THE HOLIDAYS!!!!  I wish I could set up my Christmas tree tomorrow.

Ok, this is a totally random and ridiculous post, obviously there's not much going on in our neck of the woods.  I should go start dinner... doesn't it feel like that's all we do?

Cook, clean...pick up the toyroom... repeat.

A reminder to myself.

God was God yesterday.
God is God today.
God will be God tomorrow.
He's all I need.

Obama can’t and won't change the world. But regardless, he will still receive my respect and prayers, whether I agree with his position on issues or not.

It's here... finally. Election day.

So today's the day... the one we've all been waiting for.  The day that I can't wait to be over because I think I'll scream if I hear one more commercial tearing the candidates apart.  I can't stand it and I'm excited for it all to be over with... (however, I am excited to watch the election coverage tonight!)  I try to avoid touchy subjects on my blog because I don't want to make people mad, but at the same time I'm reminding myself today that this is MY blog and I'm free to write about what I want.  So here we go... who I'm voting for and why.

Out of all the issues that we look at while deciding who to vote for when it comes to the next president, the biggest issue that I look at is abortion.  Call me a single-issue voter, but so be it.  I know there are so many other issues that the candidates are fighting for that WILL affect me and our child in the long run, but this particular one always tugs at my heart a little harder.  No, McCain will not be a perfect president - in fact, there are many things that he supports that I don't agree with.  And many times throughout this campaign I have been tempted to not vote at all because frankly, I think they both suck, but then am reminded that I need to voice my opinion for the "lesser of the two evils".  I don't think I could ever conciously vote for someone that has been named "the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history" (and not by someone off the street - if you don't believe it, read this article here).  Because frankly, we're talking about life and death here. 

I've heard it said by some people that abortion has not been a critical voting issue for them because they "really don't know when life begins".  If that is true, can we all at least agree that there is now documented medical evidence of an average base-line age in which early-term babies can survive outside the womb with little or no invasive medical help?  If so, can we all then agree that any candidate, who supports abortion beyond that baseline, is actually supporting the murdering of human beings?  (Isn’t the moral character of that candidate a HUGE issue?)

Here's a good "line in the sand" to test yourself as to whether the unborn baby is a life that deserves the full protection of the law:  Let's say that you (as a woman; or the husband of a wife) are pregnant and nearing the end of your second trimester of pregnancy.  You're driving along and someone runs a red light; impacting your vehicle in the drivers side; and as a result, your unborn baby is hurt inside the womb and dies as a result of it's trauma.  Let's also say that this baby was old enough to have survived outside the womb, had an early-term delivery been necessary.  Should you be entitled to legal damages for the wrongful death of your baby or not? 

If your answer to that question is "Yes", than you cannot say that abortion should be the legal right (choice) of the woman carrying any other baby that age, just because her baby is an unwanted pregnancy and you wanted your baby!  They are the SAME!  Both children are deserving of the full protection of the law; not just the WANTED baby!  And unfortunately, the Pro-Abortion / Choice advocates are advocating the right of women to extinguish the life of any baby fitting this description and this is the platform of the Democratic Party.

I also wanted to share with you this article entitled "Why I cannot vote for Obama" by Brett McCracken. 

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“Why I Cannot Vote for Obama” by Brett McCracken

I really want to vote for Obama. There are a myriad of reasons why it would thrill me to cast my vote for him on November 4. He is such an attractive and inspiring figure, and I’m not just saying that because it’s the standard line about Obama. It’s true.

It would be so nice to have a president who is smart, articulate, even-keeled, poised, intellectual, and (it seems) genuinely passionate about helping downtrodden people.

I’ve been impressed with the way he’s handled himself on the campaign trail (certainly moreso than I have been with McCain), and I’ve more than once considered the possibility of voting for him.

At the end of the day, though, we have to look past all the promises and rhetoric of a presidential candidate and look at their record. In Obama’s case, it’s not all that extensive or especially committal (it’s clear that Obama was planning for the presidency from his very first days in the Illinois legislature). But there are things about his record that really frighten me, and chief among them is his far-left stances on abortion.

Based on his record, Obama is the most pro-abortion presidential candidate in history. If you don’t believe that, read this article.

In it, Robert George, Princeton professor and renowned ethicist, summarizes Obama’s abortion record, and it is ugly. He begins by stating:

“Barack Obama is the most extreme pro-abortion candidate ever to seek the office of President of the United States. He is the most extreme pro-abortion member of the United States Senate. Indeed, he is the most extreme pro-abortion legislator ever to serve in either house of the United States Congress…”

The full article is truly eye-opening and disturbing, and I urge all of you to read it. If there is any part of you that is convicted about abortion and would like to see it lessened in America, you must consider Obama’s record carefully before you consider voting him into office.

I know, I know, people will retort that George W. Bush—possibly the most pro-life president in history—didn’t really do much to advance the pro-life cause. So why should I expect any different from McCain?

Well, it’s not about what McCain will or will not achieve on abortion. It’s about what an Obama administration would do to scale back abortion restriction laws and undo years of pro-life advances. If the democrats win a super majority in congress and Obama is elected president, we could be in for the biggest step back for the pro-life movement in history.

This may make me a “single-issue” voter, but so be it. I agree that “pro-life” goes beyond abortion—encompassing issues of poverty, the death penalty, even the environment… But abortion is a huge and important part of what it means to affirm the sanctity of life, and Obama’s cavalier legislative approach to it truly disturbs me.

I will not be crushed if Obama becomes the president; in some ways I’ll be very happy. But I’ll be praying that his tenure as president does not even go near abortion issues. It is that fear—that Obama will in his presidency be the pro-abortion extremist he has been as an Illinois legislator and U.S. Senator—that prevents me from voting for him.

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Just like others, you can peg me as an ultra-conservative Christian if you want.  Call me uneducated, and naive.  However, after having this baby inside me - feeling him kick, move, squirm, and punch has affirmed my decision in more ways than one.  Before I was pregnant, I still would never have voted for someone who is actively FOR abortion - but the thought of someone willingly giving up this life... this baby... is so beyond me.  There are so many other safe alternatives for the baby that would give it a chance to live and breathe... a chance for life. 

So after all that being said... (and I could go on much longer but wont!) - you obviously know that my vote goes to McCain/Palin. 

Who are you voting for - and why?