Barack's Tax Cuts for the Middle Class

Lately, I've been consumed with frustration over simple-mindedness. I can't believe half the country would be willing to vote for someone who in the same sentence says he wants to provide tax cuts for the Middle Class, yet raise taxes on people and businesses making $250K annually. Who do you think those businesses are going to pass that extra expense to? The MIDDLE CLASS who do business with them everyday, from oil companies, gas companies to everything else. And people are still willing to vote for someone so stupid as Barack Obama.

ANSWERED PRAYERS!!!!

I just received news that although we have many missing shingles, there is relatively no damage to our home!!! I am flooded with relief. Phew! That was a close one! God has certainly answered my prayers in every way :)

We're staying in Ruston and plan to leave early in the morning to head back home. Ainsley will stay here with my mother-in-law and will probably return in the next couple of days. I am thankful I had my mother-in-law to take her ahead of us up here to safety. It was a very interesting ride for us on the way to Ruston.

It started with our miniature rat terrier, Daisy, jumping out of the window while driving down the interstate at about 15 miles per hour. The slow speed was due to heavy traffic, but it wasn't slow enough for it to be a smooth jump and recover for Daisy. As soon as she jumped out, I shrieked and Tim yelled "FUC*!" while on the phone with his mother. He hung up, then jumped out of the truck bare foot to run down the interstate after Daisy. Shortly after exiting my transonic, shock state, I got out of the truck to see what I could do. Needless to say, my short stature disabled me from seeing over any car. A lady noticing my disability yelled, "He's gotter', mayam!" As Tim handed her to me, blood poured from her mouth and head on to my shirt. It hadn't occurred to me just how hard she hit the cement. I jumped in the truck and examined her face to see where the blood could be coming from. The injury looked mostly on her lower lip. We pulled out of the traffic and on to the side of the road, where Tim poured some bottled water over her face which offered her some relief. For the next several hours she basically moped on my lap, sucking up every bit of sympathy we offered her.

We were a mere fifty miles from Ruston at about 10:30 pm when a noise from the back caught our attention. The boat trailer tire had blown out. We ended up riding the next twenty miles at 2 miles per hour until we reached the nearest Wal-Mart parking lot where we would spend the night in the truck. The next morning we were told that Wal-Mart didn't have our tires in stock, so we ventured a few more miles down the highway to another place who sold us the closest we could get. We FINALLY made it to Ruston around 10:30 am, a full almost 24 hours from the time we left Luling to get there. The remainder of the time has been pretty uneventful, accept for the fact that I've fallen down the apartment steps outside twice. Hopefully there won't be a third to charm me.

August 30, 2008

Yesterday was the anniversary of Katrina, where thousands of people lost every material thing that they left here when they hopefully evacuated for the hurricane. Those that didn’t leave dealt with power outages, heat, poisoned water everywhere, and death.

Those images flood my mind as I realize that the very thing that happened to the Katrina victims may very well happen to me and my family in a couple of days. As we prepare to leave and watch the news, it becomes more and more evident that the hurricane which spared us last time might not spare us this time. A couple of days ago in frantic panic mode I purchased flood insurance. Even though it won’t help me for this hurricane, we will have protection after thirty days for any subsequent hurricanes. We live in a flood x zone, which means no flood zone, so when our policy lapsed a couple of years ago I procrastinated renewing it. Now my procrastination has turned in to sour regret. Of course we have homeowner’s insurance, but it doesn’t matter how much damage the hurricane does if the house fills with water. Now all the scenarios of not being financially covered are pouring through my mind. If the house is gone and there’s nothing to pay for its replacement, where and how will we survive financially? The loan would have to continue to be paid plus we would have to either pay rent somewhere or finance another mortgage.

I kick myself realizing how quickly I judged those asking for compensation three years ago when they hadn’t taken the precautionary measurements to ensure being financially covered should such a disaster occur. How could I be so insensitive and judgmental to the frail humankind? I find myself in the same situation, potentially having no security should the storm carry a certain number of events.

I pray that God spare us all. I pray that our home will still be here when we return, dry inside. I pray for forgiveness for the insensitive way I handled Hurricane Katrina. I pray for mercy for all my mistakes.

God answers the tightness in my chest with, “As long as you can breathe and you are alive you have everything you ever had. As long as you and your family come out alive and together you have all that I have ever given you. It is going to be okay.”

Our Time Apart

I wonder if one day you'll look back and wonder how I felt about our time apart.

Did she not care?
Did she care more about money or her career?
Did she love me at all? As much as I love her?
Did she enjoy the time apart?
Were other things more important?

Not for one second did I ever enjoy the time apart more than my time with you. For years I dreamed of having a child, a daughter, and the special relationship that would exist. I fantasized about what our days would be like, how much she would depend on me and like me--even more than she loved me. I had to force myself to wait until the right time to have you, because I knew how everything would effect you.

Feeling you move in my belly I imagined what you would look like, and I pictured mine and your dad's face and wondered which face would match the most. I knew you would be beautiful, but you turned out more beautiful that I ever imagined.

When you were born my life changed forever. I loved you immediately, more than I've ever loved anything else. I have always put your first in front of everything.

Life happens and it turns out different than our fantasies have created them to be. My life hasn't been what I always imagined it would. The time that we have together is a lot less than I thought it would be. I have to work to pay our bills, so I can't be home with you as much as I want to. You are always on my mind when I'm not with you, and I wonder if you miss me too, or if you realize how much I love you even when I'm not there to tell you. I look at your life sometimes as a by standard witnessing things happening and not being a part of them. The pain in my heart tugs at both ends, because I know how much I want to be there but can't.

Anyway, I just hope that one day you will realize how I truly feel inside and how I wish that we could have more time together.