What is REALiTY?

I have four fabulous horses to ride every day right now. One of them is MINE MINE MINE. I am one lucky lady. I also have two wonderful children who are brilliant. I think they have GOOD GENES! LOL! I have frustrations. Many Frustrations. They are of my own making.

Sometimes I do not know what to say. I hate to admit when I feel things that are less than wonderful. I have no room to complain. Yet, I find things to natter on about on and on and on.

I wish I could DANCE or SING or had a TALENT.....

I envy the MORMANS.... In an odd sort of way....their sense of community. The way they pull together in joy and suffering...HMMMM

Check Out This Link

In a typical Democratic or even REPUBLICAN manner, our country, the great old USA is having a DEBATE about health care. If 87% of the people want something, you would think that the debate would be short lived. After all, isn't our government based on the idea of MAJORITY RULE? It is somewhat confusing. I mean, I wasn't a Political Science major in college, I am just a lawyer which in no way qualifies me to actually interpret LAW, but, seriously, this seems pretty easy.....

http://pol.moveon.org/insurance_execs/?rc=fb.6

But then, I guess we are a country for the gullible, the EASILY DUPED, a country that reads the National Enquirer and BELIEVES. We are a country based on freedom of religion, as long as you are the RIGHT kind a' Christian...... "Mighty White" of us! After all, Christ wouldn't have wanted to protect the vulerable, serve the less fortunate, or make sure that all people are entitled to health care.....

Clepson is In the HOUSE, Finally....

After much planning, preparation and anxiety (on the part of the adults mainly!) Clepson departed for home . His trip home was orchestrated by MAT with help from us and the Airline Ambassadors (super organization!)

We ended up driving Clepson to Seattle to meet his first of three volunteer airline chaperones. Clepson was dressed in his very best clothing and looked surprisingly "Haitian" in a dress shirt, vest and suit coat.

Clepson was excited to be leaving but had been anxious since getting his eye. I like to think he will miss us and not just "Hannah Montana"! Clepson seemed to withdraw from us over the last few weeks of his visit. It was like he had accomplished his goal in getting well and having such a super transformation with his prosthetic eye. He asked daily about how many more days until he would go home and started watching more "Love a Child" programming on the Internet.

It is my hope that he is truly glad to be back at Love a Child and has grown in a positive way from his stay in the U.S. I know that he is a physically healthier boy, but I hope he is emotionally and spiritually well too.

While we will miss Clepson's joyful laugh and spirit, it was not a very hard thing to let him return to Love a Child. Our family knew that Clepson would return home. Clepson has a wonderful home in Haiti. It has been MUCH harder for me to see some of the babies return to Haiti that live in squalid conditions without the resources that Love a Child provides to Clepson.

I believe in the power of education and think that Haiti's problems will one day be solved by Haitian children that have been gifted with education and world knowledge. I hope that Clepson has taken from his visit that with hard work and determination anything is possible and that we can't rely on charity and handouts to get by in life. I think a "hand up" is so much more valuable than a "hand out". When Love a Child educates and nurtures it's orphans it gives them the ability to work to change their country. My belief that this is so important made it easy for me to "let go" of Clepson and encourage his return to his own country.

Plans

We have been busy and buzzing with plans around here. Getting Noah and Zoe ready for school, getting Clepson ready to return to Love A Child in Haiti...It has been a bit crazy around the household. It seems like Clepson has been with our family forever. He has been eagerly waiting to return home and the wait seemed to drag on and on and Now time is FLYING by and we will be lucky to get haircuts and school shoes and small gifts packed for the other children at Love a Child.

Clepson has been distracted and a bit sad for the last few days. I know he is frightened to possibly spend the night in PAP when he arrives in Haiti. He is frightened to fly also. Tonight we are going Ice Skating with the cousins and he will get to spend some time with them tomorrow too.

First Day of School 2009

Today Noah and Zoe went back to school. This summer has been very chaotic and from the first day of vacation I thought I wouldn't be able to make it until they returned to school. Trying to juggle another child in the house with medical needs and working two jobs with summer fun isn't for the weak at heart! The experience of hosting a medical needs child has shown my entire family things they did not know about themselves. Since Zoe was born, Noah has felt that he would be much happier sharing his parents and home with a brother instead of a little sister. He learned this summer that he just isn't into sharing;) That brothers can be just as annoying as sisters. Zoe has become much more self sufficient. She has learned that having two brothers makes twice the fun and twice the teasing. She would like to never hear the words "Zoe be quiet" again. I have learned that maybe I am a strict parent. Maybe my expectations are high and that my children are really good people.

In July, our adult nephew and godchild (Danny) moved in with us too. We have had a full house and are so glad that Danny has found not one job but two and is working and saving to go back to school. Danny has been a lifesaver this summer in helping with childcare and making the adults schedules a little more flexible.

CAKE BOSS

There are very few television shows that Noah, Zoe and Clepson all like to watch that I can bear to watch (PLEASE NO SPONGEBOB!) A few weeks ago we all sat for hours watching a Cake Boss marathon. The kids were amazed at the creations and amused by the "Cake Boss's" yelling and flamboyant attitude in the kitchen. We decided to make our own "Cake Boss" creation. The kids drew pictures and we discussed and ultimately had to put off making the cake because the fondant, modelling chocolate etc... were a bit involved and we needed ample prep time to pull off the cake successfully. We also needed a group of folks willing to eat our creation... So, Clepson's "going home" party was the perfect time to create. We settled on a Haitian flag (made by Clepson, with help from Nina), an American flag (by Noah, on the other side of the cake), a pizza (by Nina) and a hand (originally waving goodby, then just taking the pizza, by Zoe). It all came together pretty well and was DELICIOUS! The cake was white chocolate cake with almond white chocolate frosting, marshmallow fondant and white modelling chocolate. If you would like any of the very, very, VERY messy recipes, just shoot me an email or comment and I will get them to you.

Clepson is very excited to be going home at the end of the week. He is desperate to see all of his friends at the orphange and Sherry, Bobby and Carole (the directors and nurse at Love a Child). He is a very confident boy who will hopefully be just as respectful as he was when he came to stay with us!

Health Insurance Debate?

Diego has health insurance..... Major medical ($250 deductable) and mortality insurance run me about $400 a YEAR. I am glad that I can afford to insure him because I don't want to face large medical bills that I can ill afford. I have personally had YEARS that I was without medical insurance. I did not get medical help when it was prudent to. We could not afford it. Do I think it is basic human right for people to have access to health care without facing poverty? YES. Do I think people in our rich country that I pay HUGE amounts of taxes should die because of lack of access to health care. NO. I wish people would open their eyes and see that we are already paying more in health care per capita in this nation than most industrialized countries do. We are also one of the ONLY countries that does not have some form of national health plan. Does this make them all SOCIALIST countries....NO....Does this make them less effective at health care than the US.... absolutely not. IN FACT, we have less satisfaction with our health care, higher costs and the highest infant mortality rate of all industrialized nations....WOW, we should be so proud! I have personally bought veterinary medicine that is THE SAME as the human medicine because the cost was one tenth of the cost for the human prescription....MANY things need to change here, pharmaceutical companies and HMO's are running our health industry. Fear of liability causes most of the doctors to make decisions that are unreasonable. Not only do we need a national health care plan, but we need to limit malpractice and crack down on the drug companies.... IN FACT, I think the government should insure doctors and other health care providers for malpractice......that should stir things up!