Story here: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,484326,00.html

That’s right, zombies. 2012 is only a few years away…

Siena has been very lucky to have such a varied (and stylish!) wardrobe, thanks to many generous gifts and hand-me-downs. Some of her most special clothes, however, have been custom made just for her! My friend Michelle has given me bridal and baby shower gifts that her mom, Theresa, made for me. (Theresa also shortened and bustled my wedding dress for me. Michelle was my Maid of Honor, and you won’t believe what her mom did with her dress after the wedding! Go here and scroll all the way down.)
 

I love the full sized hooded towels she makes (cuz hoods are a great idea, but don’t they always seem to be on teensy towels?) and now that HiW has dubbed Siena our “little spit-up fountain”, we’re loving our giant bib, too.

Anyway, back when I was pregnant, I didn’t spend much time eating (unless saltines and flat Sprite count) but I did spend dinnertime online researching baby gear for my shower registry. I came across plenty of cute little onesies that would have cost over $20 with shipping and handling figured in, but I knew HiW would get a kick out of many of them with their technology puns and sayings. So I collected the various sayings and asked Theresa if she could embroider some onesies in a variety of sizes for HiW’s birthday gift. They cost WAY less that way, and he loved them!  Go check out Theresa’s site for some of her great crafts, or ask her to custom make something for somebody you love, too.

Moral implications aside, it’s important to look at how reasonable FOCA would be in action. It will make health care more dangerous, and is impractical all around.

Federal funding comes with stipulations. Public schools have certain conditions to meet because they get government money. Even private religious colleges have certain requirements to meet if they want to keep getting state or Federal funds. Similarly,  any hospital that accepts federal funds (Medicare, Medicaid, etc.) would, under FOCA, be required to perform abortions and distribute the “Morning After Pill.” Without even worrying about the free choice of the doctors and pharmacists at any given hospital, think about what this means.

A hospital that currently does not perform abortions would need to either 1) hire a doctor trained in abortions, 2) assign doctors barely trained in the procedures to be the token abortionists, or 3) shut down altogether. Most hospitals probably aren’t looking to ADD employees in this economy, and even if every hospital nationwide decided to hire one additional doctor, where would these doctors come from? Most surgeons aren’t trained in abortive procedures.

Would it be safer, then, to go to a dedicated abortion clinic rather than a hospital with poorly trained surgeons? Well, not under FOCA, which eliminates health and safety regulations for abortion clinics! If we really care about a woman who makes the difficult choice to terminate her pregnancy, let’s not make it even more dangerous for her than it already is!

I guess there is a fourth choice for hospitals who decide not to add abortions to their list of services. They could refuse government funding and become a private institution. If that happened in my town where there’s just one hospital, a person on Medicare or Medicaid would be either turned away or forced to pay out of pocket for the most basic hospital service. Not a good way to make health care more accessible.

People who are pro-abortion may think FOCA is a great thing, or at least that it’s not a bad thing, simply because pro-lifers are so wary of it. If we as Americans really believe in “reaching across the aisle” and working together for the good of the whole country, we need to look more closely at how things like FOCA will affect us all, in ways that have nothing to do with Roe v Wade. Women deserve better than abortion. We all deserve better than FOCA.

Please pray for little Jack, born prematurely to a college friend of mine, at just 27.6 weeks gestation. You can learn his story and follow his progress here.

As a Special Education Preschool Teacher, I have been honored to know some pretty impressive little kiddos who have been fighting for life since the day they were conceived. They tend to bring people together, remind us all to count our blessings and appreciate the simple joys in life, call us to our own personal growth, and inspire us with their strength and determination. Little Jack already seems to be doing all of the above.

Keep it up, kiddo!

(Oh, and watch out parents – it seems like the kids I meet with these struggles in their past are some of the most stubborn strong willed preschoolers ever. But remembering it’s a character trait that helped them through the first few months of their lives does make it easier to be the patient teacher I strive to be!)

LRH’s uncle is an incredibly talented Montana photographer. Today he captured this image of a hawk sitting on a fence in the snow. Take a look at his online gallery for more great shots: http://bconnor.smugmug.com

Because Hawk in Winter didn’t really get to join in on our New Year’s Eve Game Night, we had another one last night. We had a “progressive dinner” of sorts – dinner at Matt and Jillian’s, then dessert at our house. After delicious fajitas, HiW had a special request to check out Super Mario Brothers on their Wii. We all watched and reminisced about 80′s video games. When I say “we all watched” that includes Siena! We tried her in a little seat to help her sit up. Check her out!

Her head kept turning, with fascinated eyes, from the TV screen to her Daddy.

Siena’s hands still spend most of their time balled up in clenched fists, tucked tightly to her chest, but a couple times they did touch the sunshine toy! She watched her hands intently, as if starting to realize those things are attached to her.

Before I know it, she’ll not only develop use of her fingers, but start trying to convince me that video computer games develop hand-eye coordination ;-)

Over at our house, the Daddy/baby cuteness continued as we played Catan.

Watching the inauguration with my wife, we both couldn’t help but remember Padmé’s haunting quote at the end of Episode III. It seems like a few people on YouTube (1, 2, 3) had the same idea. LOL.

Welcome to the DSSR, also known as the Divided Socialist States of Obameristan. We have much to look forward to in the next four years:

• Scandal and corruption on a scale never before seen in our nation’s history
• The continued socialization of our economy
• A massive increase in the size, scope and power of our government
• The undermining of parental authority
• Socialist entitlements and handouts that will placate an ever-more-dependent, uneducated and uncompetitive workforce
• More aggressive liberal indoctrination in our universities and public schools
• A culture war that will result in the suppression of Christian values and holidays in favor of ultra-sensitive, meaningless, secular progressive “events”
• The eroding of our national sovereignty by corrupt bodies like the UN and rogue nations
• Industrial,  social and influential decline before China and India
• The undermining of our national security
• New and tighter restrictions on our second amendment rights
• The marginalization of the Republican party and conservatism at all levels of government
• The introduction of liberal activist judges from the Supreme Court on down.
• The introduction of legislation enabling (and a culture celebrating) morally bankrupt behavior
• And last but not least, completely unfettered access to abortion: America’s holocaust continues.

The Obamessiah’s flock will chant his name with reverent fervor while he strips them of their rights and subtly influences them to become more dependent on his corrupt government. When this happens he will become more than a messiah, he will become a provider and his willfully ignorant subjects will stay pacified, hanging on every empty word conveyed by his silver tongue.

On a lighter note, my friend Rex sent me an e-mail forward containing some quotes from Thomas Jefferson. It is completely worthwhile to contrast the philosophies and wisdom of his time to that of our current “Great Leader”. Let me start with a Jefferson quote that is very relevant to our present economic crisis.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered.”

“When we get piled upon one another in large cities, as in Europe, we shall become as corrupt as Europe.”

“To compel a man to subsidize with his taxes the propagation of ideas which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.”

Why work when you can live off of welfare handouts, stimulus packages and government bailouts?

“The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not.”

“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the Government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”

I think that Thomas Jefferson would not approve of how government grows when liberals are in power.

“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”

The following quotes make it very obvious what the framers meant by the second amendment. Sadly, the SCOTUS justices almost redefined the purpose of the second amendment in the Heller case.

“No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms.”

“The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.”

“The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.”

We have a new President. A President who has inspired millions and made impressive promises;  a President who tells us to have hope.  My biggest hope for our new President is that he will break at least one of his promises. I hope he will decide NOT to sign the Freedom of Choice Act.

Unfortunately, he promised Planned Parenthood that signing FOCA is the first thing he’ll do as President.

Many in our country said they felt empowered while watching the inauguration tonight. I felt powerless. I don’t know what else is in my power to do in order to protect innocent babies and scared mothers. I spoke with my vote. I spoke with my signature. I continue to speak with my prayers. Now that I’m speaking with my blog, I’m not sure what more I can do. I’m not feeling very hopeful right now.

Here’s what I do hope. I do hope you will hop over to my friend’s blog to read her post about FOCA, and consider signing the petition against it.

LRH uses a Powerbook G4 running Tiger. For various reasons we both wanted to upgrade her Powerbook to Leopard and last night was my first attempt. It turned out to be an exercise in frustration and stupidity. Frustration for 3-4 hours lost on the project and stupidity for not realizing why it didn’t work the first time.

Usually, installing an OS on a computer is a straightforward process, especially with a Mac. However, we had the unfortunate added complication of a defective CD drive, so the install media had to be remotely mounted and used.

1st Attempt:

1. Connected G4 Powerbook to Intel Macbook Pro with a firewire cable and booted the G4 Powerbook into target disk mode. Note that target disk mode is a way of turning a Mac into a giant external hard drive.
2. Booted the Macbook Pro from the Leopard install DVD and formatted the remote drive on the Powerbook G4 to GPT. Installed Leopard.
3. Reboot the G4 Powerbook only to find a welcome screen consisting of two buttons displaying a curved arrow and a right-pointing arrow respectively.

It turns out that the open firmware on the G4 does not understand the GPT partition structure used by Intel-based macs.  Booting from Intel hardware invoked this method of installation that required GPT to be used before the OS could be installed.

What I Should Have Done:

While it should be possible to install Leopard by booting from the Macbook Pro a much easier solution is to just make the Macbook Pro appear as a disk on the Powerbook.

Booting the Macbook Pro into Target Disk Mode should make its DVD drive show up as a bootable drive on the Powerbook and the install should happen with the correct hardware being identified so the older partition structure will be used.

I had a great New Year’s Eve, but poor Hawk in Winter spent most of it in bed with a sinus infection.

My friend Michelle was staying with us, and we invited our friends Matt, Jillian, and Baby London over for a game night.

Siena’s onesie was a gift from Michelle and her mom.

The babies didn’t make it to midnight,

but Hawk in Winter joined us for desserts and limoncello toasts as we watched the countdown.

It was a peaceful, fun-filled evening full of laughter and good friends.

Here’s hoping it was indicative of the year ahead!