Yesterday was Rebecca’s birthday, and I realized that 3 previous generations – and one baking legend – helped make her birthday cake special.
When Rebecca was diagnosed with Celiac Disease, I was sure that baking from that point on was going to be a real pain. But in the past year, Betty Crocker started making Gluten-Free mixes. Fortunately for Rebecca, we had a box of cake mix in our pantry:
Thank you, Betty Crocker!
On this day 10 years ago, we were given a very special gift:
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On July 10, 2001, we welcomed Rebecca Claire into the world. She was absolutely perfect – another beautiful daughter. A few hours after her birth, our pediatrician gently informed us that Rebecca had been born with Down syndrome. The next 48 hours were a real emotional roller coaster. We cried, we asked ourselves, “Why?”, and we prayed. A lot.
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Sometimes, you really CAN learn new and interesting things late at night. Last night on one of the blogs that I frequent, a commenter who has been following the situation in South Sudan couldn’t hold in his excitement and elation at the prospect of a new, independent nation finally – after decades of terrible fighting – becoming a reality. It seems this commenter knows one of the freedom fighters personally, and holds him in very high regard. He feels that this soft-spoken person who cherishes the idea of religious freedom and national sovereignty could one day be instrumental in the new country’s government.
We’re gonna start calling her “Jaws”…..
Snow White meets Bailey the Dog
(I swear, that dog hasn’t met a Barbie doll of Rebecca’s that she didn’t like…..)
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My kids got ALL of their artistic talent from Paul’s side of the family – I can barely draw a stick figure.
Michelle loves to do a technique called “Pointillism”, and she is very, very good at it. She recently did this drawing of a manatee for a friend, and I wanted to share it with all of you (and yes, I’m bragging!):
Not bad for an Aggie, huh? 🙂
“When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
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I put this little post together over at another site for a friend who knew he was going to get fired today (he’s actually OK with it – things were getting really bad at his job).
Most friends would offer words of condolence (and we have), but instead of mourning, I thought it might be better to (metaphorically) kick the collective rear ends of the idiots who are messing with a member of our little trailer park.
So here’s what I told our friend:
I’m so sick and tired of lawyers and politicians (and a guy in India who plays with choo-choos) telling me that I am ignorant for not “believing” in Manmade Global Warming.
I spent less than an HOUR on the Internet, used basic math skills taught me in high school, and was able to figure out “how much” man is affecting the atmosphere. Not much, is what the numbers told me (of course, simple logic had already told me that…..).
The lawyers and the politicians and the pseudo-scientists – who all care more about which parties they are going to be invited to and how large their vacation homes will be – really hope that more people won’t figure this out.
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We are on our way to spend time with the extended family for the next few days. Paul’s family has a reunion/campout at Chalk Bluff Park (just north of Uvalde, Texas) every year.
There’s lots of fun stuff to do there; we’ve been going there so long that “traditions” have evolved. I never thought that something that I started a few years ago would make the cut…..
The Fat Lady Has Sung
