A friend of my daughters sent this to her and I just had to post it. :)

*Warning* I'm going to be a little opinionated here...

In our media rich society, there are always these little sayings that go around that are supposed to convey some sort of truth, but really they are just the repeating of what someone else has said which some one else said, etc. Like "Well, if you raise those children strict like that, they'll rebel when they get older" or "Children need to learn socialization skills from other children". They aren't exactly cliches, because the wording changes, but they are this sort of widely accepted truth that people just tend to accept without really considering whether they are actually true or not.

One of the ones that goes around a lot in Christian political talk is that a vote for McCain is a vote "for the lesser of two evils". That just really, really sets my teeth on edge. Does the speaker repeating this HONESTLY believe that John McCain is evil? I mean truly in the accurate definition of the word? I disagree with McCain on some things, but I cannot believe anyone thinking clearly could call him a truly evil man. Hitler was truly evil. Stalin. Saddam Hussein. These are truly evil men. John McCain may have some political ideas that don't jive with me. And yes, I do think he's a bit self seeking and he is reported to have a bad temper. But would any of us want to be called EVIL on that basis? I know I can have some of those same faults myself from time to time.

We expect that kind of rhetoric from the left. The more extreme of their members see no problem going around blasting everyone with the label "Hitler" and "Nazi" My stars, if the world were really as full of Hitlers as they seem to think we would be in deep trouble indeed! But we are called to be more careful with our words. We should measure accurately what we say. We trivialize true evil when we just apply it all over with such a broad brush. But we say this with such ease, to call this man evil. So.. could we lay off this "lesser of two evils" thing? (At least in my hearing?) And stick to the real issues?

There, got that bee out of my bonnet.

Sorry, Amy...

I guess if I'd known that I wouldn't get a chance to post in a while, I wouldn't have picked that as my last entry... Ahhh, well...

My midwife came today. It was my first appointment, which is probably scandalous by modern medicine standards. That is, that I waited so long to call her-but she wasn't surprised. When I called she said "Well, when are you due, next week?" Ahem. I'm not quite that bad. Almost maybe. But everything's fine, so far. She will test my sugar in three weeks, which I know is my weak area, so I just try to avoid it.

Everybody in the house-yes, even the boys-is determined that this baby SHALL BE a girl. I think I am the only one who thinks that if it is a boy it won't be that bad. :) I finally got Rand to even talk about boy names the other night, as if having a name on hand could open the possibility of this baby being a boy where it wouldn't otherwise. We (well, he, as there is only one name he is willing to consider) finally decided on a boy name, while the girl name has been picked for.. umm.. years? :)

Boys. They are a lot of work. Mine sometimes remind me of marauding little savages running through the house. And it isn't the same if you only have one. Sorry, but it just isn't. Forrest was a breeze, when he was the only boy among all my girls. But get two or three of them together, well that's just another thing. The competition over territory, the energy, the fight for supremacy.. It's just something else. I was brought up with one sister. Watching these little guys is just kind of a fascination.. Like another planet.

We finally have a pet! Haha. Forrest found this beautiful guy under the wood pile outside. He's a Hobo spider, a relative of the brown recluse. The kids put him in a jar because they were so convinced that Mrs. Darling and especially Peter would appreciate being able to say hello to him. I'm not quite as sure the gesture will be appreciated, but for now the jar is in my kitchen, he is being fed flies and every time I reach for a plate.... there he is on the shelf. :)