I Can be a HORRIBLE Tease... : )

I admit it... and because I'm around my kids all the time, they are often the unsuspecting "victims" of my sarcasm and teasing... : ] Just today my daughter (#3)went in to the kitchen to find something to eat for lunch...

"mom, can I have a girl-cheese?"

"Why would you want a girl cheese? What's girl-cheese?... Is that different from boy cheese?..."

"I just want a girl cheese samwich! Can I have one?..."

"Well, I don't think we have any girl-cheese, would you settle for some boy cheese?"

"Yeah, I guess so... I'll have a boy-cheese samwich..."

By this time the the older boys are rolling on the floor laughing. "It's GRILL cheese!"

A smile lights #3's face.. NOW she gets the joke... : ) and I think she was RELIEVED that she wouldn't have to endure a "boy" cheese "samwich"... I don't think she was looking too forward to that, anyway....

Palin and Clinton on SNL

I can't stay awake long enough to watch SNL, but I caught just the end of this on FOX news last night and had to find and see what it was... it's pretty funny...

Storm Updates

Well, it seems that Ike has made his way through and thankfully my friends have all seemed to have reported to be together and safe. Damage is varying, but apparently fixable... some still without power AND phone lines... and a couple of more friends dealing with left over wind storms in the Columbus Ohio area. Thank you all so much to those who took time out to say a prayer. We may never know the whole magnitude of that which we pray for in keeping people safe...

The Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross

"Lift High the Cross! The Love of Christ proclaim! Till all the world.... adore.... His Sacred Name...."

Many Blessings this day, expected and not expected... Today is my baby's second birthday! She woke up grumpy, and for whatever reason has continued to be less than "adorable" this day, but none the less, she is healthy and happy for the most part and we are blessed to have her : ) She's actually getting the hang of this potty thing, which is a great relief! And so for her birthday, she not only got a toy, but some new 'big girl' panties... She's very proud... So is mommy : )

My great niece was also baptised today! So she shares her re-birth day with my baby's birthday! The baptism was down in San Diego, so we missed it, but I'm sure it was beautiful and Ella did perfect! I'm anxious to see pictures of the big event! Ella's Grandma and Grandpa, and great-Grandma should be home this evening...

Then, surprisingly, we had a third and unexpected blessing for this day in which a family member decided to take that final "plunge" in to the Tiber and swim across! I couldn't keep the tears from my eyes as a small gathering of family and close friends surrounded him as he made his Profession of Faith, received his First Holy Communion, was Confirmed and Anointed... It was very beautiful and I felt very blessed to be there! May God continue to bless him with all the peace and blessings of his Holy Catholic Church!

We celebrate the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, and God blessed us greatly as we gazed upon Him on that Cross! Thank You, Jesus! Amen and Amen!

The National Catholic Register

For any of you subscribers out there, check out this weeks issue of the NCRegister. Right smack-dab in the middle you will see "nun" other than my beautiful niece holding a "God Bless the USA" sign surrounded by her fellow Sisters of Mary! If you knew my niece, you would know that it was BOUND to happen for her to one day make "Front page news"... : )

More on Ike...

I have friends in and around the Houston area. The one that evacuated with her family to a hotel last Thursday evening sent me a text last night that the hotel they were staying at had no power, but they were currently all together and safe. She had NO news as to what was going on, other than what was happening around them. This morning she text me - 5:30am pacific - that they were currently trying to evacuate the hotel as it was collapsing... They were all very scared, no doubt... Please continue to send prayers upward for their safety and for all that are still in harms way... The news hasn't been good...

Hurricane Ike

As I write, according to the latest news, Ike is pounding the Gulf Coast near Houston. I have a friend that lives near there, and evacuated with her family, inland last Thursday evening. God willing, they are safe and out of harms way, but I haven't heard, yet. For those of us not in the path of Ike, before we fall to sleep this night, say a prayer for all the people that are. I can only imagine how scary it would be to have to leave your home with only the bare essentials, not really knowing what you will come back to, if anything... God Bless!

We Should NEVER Forget...

9/11/01... We still had our driving school business and my husband was already at work and I was home with my 5 and 2 year old sons at the time... After making the boys breakfast I sat down at my computer like I did pretty much every morning and saw the headlines on my home page and watched in surreal disbelief... is this for real?... is this REALLY happening RIGHT now?? As I continued to watch, unable to turn away, yet expecting this to be some kind of dramatically bad joke, I backed my way over to the TV and turned it on, where I found EVERY channel showing the same thing over and over again... Actually when I first turned it on it was actually AFTER the first plane hit the first tower and JUST BEFORE the second plane hit the second tower. The newscaster was giving a report from the balcony with the one burning tower in the background when out of nowhere the second plane came crashing in to the second tower...

The subsequent crashes in to the field in PA and the Pentagon just added to the bizarreness of the whole morning... This CAN'T be real!! But it is!! What in God's name is happening?! For days the nation watched, eyes glued non-stop to any news source they could find to hear something, ANYTHING, for some kind of explanation... I remember trying to explain what "terrorists" were to my kindergartner son and "why" they want to hurt us... I had never seen a greater display of good ole 'USA Spirit' ever in my life... For the first time since what seemed my dad's era, people were actually PROUD to be American again... suddenly they had pride in their country again as all ages were willing to stand together and do whatever needed to be done to stand up and fight back against those who wanted to take away our freedom. Those who wanted us to be afraid and cower... Chants and cries filled the streets, airways of "WE WILL NEVER FORGET" and renditions of powerful American Eagles Rising from the ashes holding the red, white and blue in her talons.... American flags flying from just about every antenna or car window on the street. There was a sea of red, white and blue flying from homes, front yards, in windows of public buildings and private homes everywhere...

But, I think even MORE amazing than the surge of American pride, came forth SO MANY that suddenly realized how FORTUNATE we all were to be able to practice our FAITH so openly, so freely in this Country of ours... and the Christians came out in DROVES... People openly proclaiming their faith, their Christianity... Openly PRAYING for God to have MERCY and protect us... THAT was TRULY God working to bring some 'good' out of 'evil'... GOD BLESS AMERICA was our battle cry...

But, as things go with us humans, time passes and we tend to relax... and once again we get comfortable, getting caught up in the day to day of life and forget WHO this is all really about... WHO is really in control of all that is good in this world.. WHO we should be praying to, worshipping, honoring, THANKING...

At the start of this current election campaign I had forgotten... I had been losing hope... I had been anticipating, already, what the next four years will be like in this country for me and my family... what THAT future would bring for my children... But even in my doubt, as usual, God heard my and many others, I'm sure, underlying prayers for something, ANYTHING, to help bring back that hope in our future again... I think He answered those prayers in a "soccer mom" from 'little ole' Alaska...

There is NO guarantee that the McCain-Palin ticket will win and make it to the White House come January 20, but it sure as heck looks a whole lot better than it did only a few short weeks ago... God, I think, is giving us, Catholics, Christians and pro lifers of all denominations this LATEST OPPORTUNITY to step up and be HEARD!! To let the culture of death HEAR us and KNOW that all other rights are futile WITHOUT the RIGHT to LIFE! At all ages and stages, life has VALUE. Those almost 3000 lives that were lost on this fateful date 7 years ago had VALUE. Just ask the families that suffered the loss personally. And just ask the MILLIONS of Americans that have stood up SINCE that day wanting and willing to do their part to fight back in HONOR of those lost lives.... Every life that is lost to the "choice" of abortion, has value... just ask the hurting and mourning mother and/or father that regret that fateful decision.... Every person suffering from disability, or illness, even terminal, has VALUE, for even they have lessons to teach us in humbleness, humility, compassion, unconditional love... Somethings that this entire world could use more of...

No... God help us, may I/We may never forget... God rest the souls lost on 9/11/01, on this anniversary day, especially. God rest all souls of purgatory. God rest the Holy Innocents. May all the souls of the Faithful Departed, by the MERCY of God, rest in peace... God Bless the friends and families left behind in this world to mourne their loss and honor their lives... God Bless all God's children left here to fight the good fight in whatever capacity He has given us... God Bless the USA...

Value Life above ALL Else..

From CatholicVote.com. I don't think that I've seen anything express where I'M coming from, better... All the issues are important, but none of them matter if the protection of LIFE is not put at the very top of the list. As a Catholic it is our DUTY to preach this from the rooftops! The election will be here before we know it! This is a beautiful commercial...

Dear Mr. Obama...

A powerful message... In case you won't see it on TV, take a look here....

Pregnancy, Insurance and "Specialists", Oh My!!

Okay, I made an "executive decision" and cancelled my appointment with the "Diabetic Counselor" this morning. Now don't get me wrong. I think that Gestational Diabetes should NOT be taken lightly, and I won't treat it as such... but as I recall (and keep in mind that this is baby #5 for me...) that my "numbers" have always been a little "high" but the previous doctor has always reassured me that it was not significant enough to be worried about... Keeping an eye on my blood pressure always seemed to be the greater concern, and THAT has been really good! I mean, even my current doctor told me that it wasn't too bad, and I should watch the sweets, increase my protein and walk more. Simple instructions, I can handle that, thanks, Doc! But THEN it was the Diabetic counselor that accosted me on my way out to "make an appointment" (Like I have time and babysitters for MORE appointments!) so that she could take an hour of my time to counsel me on diet and how to use the glucose monitoring machine... is all this REALLY necessary?? Are my numbers SO significant that it warrants pricking my fingers after EVERY meal? When I spoke with nurse friends AND a mid-wife friend of mine they all told me that the numbers didn't seem THAT significant... "watch your sweets, eat more protein and take a walk!" They all said it!!

On top of this, I was on the phone with the Doctors billing department this morning, as well, questioning WHY I was being charged for services that #1 I was told would be COVERED by some "State program". She told me that that was the charge for the "genetic counseling"!!! I told her that I didn't WANT that in the first place!! Tate it wasn't going to matter WHAT she told me in GC. The ONLY reason I agreed to it was because THEY (the doctors office) told me that because I had a "positive" result on my first trimester screen that I AUTOMATICALLY qualified for the "State Program" and the genetic counseling was part of it, so it was covered... Now they're telling me it's not and so I have to pay for it... gggrrrrr... I don't think so!! I won't take this quietly, that's for sure!!

I try to tell these people, look, this isn't my first 'rodeo'. I have 4 previous little blessings at home so it's not like I can just drop and go for every appointment that they think I need to see a specialist for. And because we live on ONE income, and we are a family of 6, soon to be 7, 20% is A LOT OF MONEY for us to contribute for these expenses that aren't going to change the fact that we are still going to have this baby!! See?! Feed my family, or pay 20% of a bill that isn't going to change anything, but only give me more information that I may or may not want to hear...? hhhmmmm....

*sigh* So, the billing girl that I spoke with FINALLY this morning (I've been trying to contact her for 2 weeks, leaving at least 3 messages that were never returned) told me that probably 85% of the time, insurance companies WON'T cover the cost of the diabetic counselors.. great! Sorry, Doc, I don' t mean to be an obstinate patient here, but I just can't do this anymore... too much "counseling" is making me nuts! I have 4 kids at home, I'm WAY pregnant and WAY hormonal. I homeschool, and trying to potty train a 2 year old, I run errands and try to keep my home as orderly as I can and I don't have time OR patience to measure and monitor food and machines... I feel fine, my weight has been fine, no significant weight gain.. in fact I've lost 4 lbs. since this latest "find" because they have made me absolutely paranoid about eating... I WILL watch the sweets and the carbs, and I WILL eat more protien and walk more. My blood pressure is better than it has been in a long time (116/66 last night) but I just can't do it anymore... I am down to my last few weeks of pregnancy. I just want to be left alone, honestly... I initially chose this new Doctor so that I could feel confident in having a specialist if needed, in the event that I had problems with my BP again, as has been my problem with the previous pregnancies... But enough is enough.... I'm going to trust God on this one... I still like my doctor tremendously, but it's all the "extra's" that want to get their hand in the pot, so to speak...

So, now I don't know about the insurance. They are a whole other confusing problem for me... I mean, our family is relatively healthy, thank you, Jesus! So we don't use our insurance a whole lot. We pay close to $600/month for insurance that covers most things 80/20% , with a $100 deductible per person per calender year. So, yeah, we pretty much pay for insurance we can't really afford to use... They initially told me that ALL maternity was covered 100%. Now they tell me that labs and x-rays are 100% up to $350, after which it goes to 80/20. AND the ultra sounds are being billed 80/20 because they are "major medical". "But", i tell them, "I wouldn't be getting an u/s if I wasn't pregnant!". "Well", they responded, "It's not notated under maternity, so that's why it falls under major medical..." THEN they told me, "Mrs. P, you will need to refer back to your information packet as to what is covered and how..."

Now, I don't know about you, but TALKING with the insurance people over the phone is confusing enough, but they it REALLY irritates me when they want to refer to the plan book!! Talk about TOTAL Greek!! Do they honestly think that regular "Jane Doe" can actually make heads or tails of that?? Please.... That's what I told the girl, and she giggled... she knew that the request was as dumb as it sounded... Unless you deal with this stuff all the time, it makes NO sense! And they change stuff all the time!! I thanked her for her time and told her that I had to stop for now. Anymore and my brain was literally going to explode... I'm not sure what I'm going to do, because I really don't want to take the word of my insurance that "this" amount is what i owe... I need to go back and see if I can get any of these other bills re-marked and re-sent as "maternity" so that the insurance will cover them... such a pain....

Okay, enough griping... there are people worse off in this world... and I think I need a nap... : )

Wow... It's ABOUT Time...

Well, I believe that Archbishop George H. Niederauer is relatively new to the San Francisco area, but in Nancy Pelosi's continual defiance of Church teaching, thankfully, he stood all he could stand and has requested to meet with her. This from the desk of Catholic League president Bill Donahue:

“San Francisco Archbishop Niederauer did not force this issue on Nancy
Pelosi—she forced it on him. His article is a cogent account of what the bishops
expect from Catholics in public life, spelling out in great detail how the
process works when dissidents like Pelosi continue in their obstinacy. The
Church regards abortion to be ‘intrinsically evil.’

“Four years ago, another Catholic dissident on this subject, New Jersey
Gov. James McGreevey, did the right thing by announcing that he would abide by
the Church’s strictures and no longer present himself for Communion. That is
exactly what Pelosi should have done. Instead, she chose to defy the teachings
of the Catholic Church, misrepresent them in public and continue to insist that
she is right. Thus has she beckoned her bishop to act. The ball is in her court."

I really have no idea, but wonder, is Dem. VP nominee Biden still presenting himself for communion?... Or is he just going to remain silently sneaking "under the radar" for now?...

Week 31 and Counting...

So, I had another check up with the Doctor this morning. My BP was a terrific 117/80. BUT!! Apparently my blood sugar levels from my 3 hour glucose test last Friday came back elevated... They were mostly concerned with my level # when i first went in "fasting". I guess that 'normal' is 90, and mine was 118. Then, after i drank the glucose drink and my one hour and 3 hour blood draws were also slightly elevated. The second hour draw was fine... weird, huh?...

"Emily, have you had problems with your blood sugar with your previous pregnancies?"

"nope. Just my blood pressure, which, oddly, seems to be very good!" *sigh*

SO! Now I have to meet with the diabetic counselor so that she can educate me on diet, etc, and show me how to use the monitor that they are going to send home with me for a couple of weeks to monitor my blood sugar levels. My Doctor, kind and sweet man that he is, tried to reassure me that this was probably just 'normal' due to my age and my body just not processing the sugar like it used to... He suggested that exercising, walking or swimming more each day could be enough to regulate it. I will try that, as I haven't been doing as much as i should, and could do more... The only other thing that I could think of that may be causing a problem is my increase in eating fruit, in order to keep things "moving" if you know what I mean! lol!! And during these summer months we have had an abundance of peaches, plums, nectarines, grapes and banana's from friends and family... And apple season is JUST around the corner!!

So now I go back in three weeks for another ultra sound to check and make sure that Sam isn't becoming "MONDO" Baby, and see the doctor again. I guess my biggest worry, now is that I will have a MONSTER size baby... #2 was my biggest, at a whopping 8 lbs... I have friends, though, that have gotten gestational diabetes and delivered 9.5 - 12lb.-r's!! YIKES!! Sure don't want that!! Can you believe that i'm down to the final 9 weeks?...

About Sarah Palin's 17 year old Daughter..

So, as expected, it didn't take long for something to emerge from the McCain-Palin ticket. We know how it goes in politics and there were many working on it fervently from the moment the announcement was made... Unfortunately, this particular information targets Sarah's oldest daughter, and at 17, I'm sure this can't be easy. God BLESS this family for the love and support they give one another in this campaign! As hard as this road will be for them, especially if elected, I believe that Sarah Palin was an answer to a lot of prayers from across this country for a conservative VP candidate. No doubt that this election and if elected, the Vice Presidency would be a great sacrifice to her family...

But! as Catholics and Christians we know that we AREN'T perfect. Only those who have traveled the hard road and are in heaven with our heavenly Father are perfect. Our Christianity and how committed we are to that which we "preach" is shown in our actions, though. "put up or shut up" or to put it more nicely, "practice what you preach"...

How Sarah and her family are handling this difficult situation with their oldest and unmarried daughter at the tender age of 17, so far has been a BEAUTIFUL example. The parents, though happy that their daughter has chosen to keep her unborn baby, they are realistic in their approach of the situation, and will love and support her, regardless. The words of Sarah Palin, herself say it best:

“We have been blessed with five wonderful children who we love with all our
heart and mean everything to us. Our beautiful daughter Bristol came to us with
news that as parents we knew would make her grow up faster than we had ever
planned. We’re proud of Bristol’s decision to have her baby and even prouder to
become grandparents. As Bristol faces the responsibilities of adulthood, she
knows she has our unconditional love and support.

“Bristol and the young man she will marry are going to realize very
quickly the difficulties of raising a child, which is why they will have the
love and support of our entire family. We ask the media to respect our daughter
and Levi’s privacy as has always been the tradition of children of
candidates.”

Quite a contrast to the words of Obama, last Spring when he crowed of having two daughters and how IF THEY made a "mistake" he would not want them "punished" with a baby, OR an STD... great... so NOW babies are a sexually transmitted diseases... *sigh*

If the Palin's daughter had chosen to go out and seek an abortion, THAT would have been a controversy... she did not, and for me, only shows all the more that they are "normal" in that they don't have "perfect" lives and have to live and deal with the same types of issues many of us as grandparents, parents, and siblings face all the time... God Bless them for that!

And as for the Obama camp, well, let them make their comments, etc... it won't be the first time that it comes back to bite them in the back side.

Wormy's Cousin from the North!

My sister and fellow homeschooling mom that lives about 4-5 hours North of here, has two boys the same ages as my #1 and #2. She saw my blog over the weekend and wrote to tell me that HER boys had found a pillar of their own! My boys are just so excited that their cousins found one like them and I thought is was a wonderful coincidence! The two pillars are quite similar but still different in their color markings. Both are supposed to "morph" into hummingbird moths... : ) According to what my sis was able to find, these worms can sometimes hibernate through the cold season and wait until spring to emerge. Her boys, as well as mine, are hoping that summer weather will hold out long enough for these guys to come out sooner rather than later! Time will tell!