Wednesday, April 30, 2008

We're back on the market!!

There is now a sign outside of our Lakemoor home that reads For Sale. For those of you that missed our last blog, we are moving back "home" to Minnesota. We could really use prayers from everyone that we have a good, quick sale as we can't come home until we sell the house (I mean who can afford TWO homes...seriously). The last time I sold a house it took about 6 painful months and I really don't want to go through that again but I realize how tough of a market this is!

We have a great Realtor who I know is going to find us a good buyer but we are going to have to be patient. We are still waiting on our first home tour though so just getting that would be a real encouragement at this point. Here is a link to our listing on our realtors' site. You can even see a virtual tour for those of you that never made it down here to see our place! :-)

http://homesbykim.com/MyListings?operation=Details&listing_id=1190803895&ls=MLSNI

Well I just wanted to update you all on what is happening. Thanks for the prayers and support...we'll see you all again soon.

Monday, April 21, 2008

A Line Is A Line

Back towards the beginning of February, we had an oopsie, and we knew it. Trevor stayed home from work on the morning of February 21st. Twice that morning I peed on a stick with the same result: a very faint little line. We nervously discussed it. Trevor posted a message on Yahoo Answers about a faint line. We got the same type of response from everyone: "Congratulations, a line is a line!" Throughout that entire morning I kept on repeating myself saying, "Oh great, a line is a line."

A few things also ran through my mind:
*Sure the condom breaks ONCE ever and this is what happens!
*I'm not ready to be a mom yet.
*There is no way I am giving birth to a child in Illinois.
*Okay let's tell the whole world right now.
*At least I know we're both as fertile as can be.

I am now a bit over 12 weeks along, marking the end of the 1st trimester. It's now safe to tell the whole world.

In other news, my bullet entitled "There is no way I am giving birth to a child in Illinois" is coming to fruition. Trevor got the okay from his boss to move back to the Twin Cities, and so our house in IL will officially be up for sale this week. Although we will miss our newfound friends in IL, we cannot wait to move back. We are so excited to pick up where we left off in MN somewhere near the end of summer whether or not our IL house sells that quickly.

So November 1 is the official due date, but we all know how accurate those dates are.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

This might be dangerous ground to tread...

...but what in the WORLD is Oprah doing these days???

I think she's really starting to go off the deep end or she must just be so full of herself that she thinks she can do no wrong...and she might be right. I'll open by saying I've never really been a big fan of Oprah, but I really don't like her entire genre. I think if I really had the time I would probably enjoy someone like Ellen (she just seems like good hearted fun) but Oprah has never been my thing. Don't get me wrong I respect her for getting to where she is...what a story. She's also done some great things for people, there is no denying that either.

Anyway, I've been getting more and more skeptical about her over the past couple years. She's clearly taken on a new age mindset but she's begun brainwashing her listeners now.

A couple years ago it was "The Secret" which is a book based on the "Laws of Attraction", you know like attracts like. Its a hodgepodge of unoriginal ideas that has been merged into a philosophy that because of Oprah has become a best seller. One of the main premises behind this one is that if you really believe you can do something or get something you can/will. WHAT?? She actually pitches a book that says, "The only reason any person does not have enough money is because they are blocking money from coming to them with their thoughts." Really now...I wonder how the little girls at her school in South Africa feel about that? I do believe in the power of a positive attitude...it can change your outlook on life but this is taking it to a dangerous extreme.

Now she's moved onto pairing up with this guy, Eckhart Tolle. Oprah extolled the author’s virtues, calling his best-selling "New Earth" book "one of the most important books of our time," the seminars one of "the most exciting things I’ve ever done." More exciting than all the lives you changed? More exciting than the school for the little girls in Africa? More exciting than your Angel Charity network? PUH-lease.

Anyway, not only did she put his teachings in her book club (which we all know many of her fans will gobble up anything she puts out there) but she started seminar series reminiscent of a church service of sorts. The path has been laid for years as she slowly and methodically began teaching her audience that there in fact is NOT one way to God and maybe not even one God...we all have out own Gods and our own paths to get to him. I am not going to pretend that I have read his book, cause I haven't (and won't). But I have read about it a few times and what I've hear has been very disturbing. Here is the most recent article that I ran into:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,351545,00.html

I guess my point for writing this is that its really time to start looking at what we put into our minds. You hear messages like this enough and it starts become easier to hear and believe until one day you think...yeah I guess that does make sense! I caution you to not fall into the trap that she is setting up. There IS one way and one God and you can't just make up a path to Him. You can't just pick and choose the things from scripture that make you feel good and discard the others. This applies to all of life...we can't just accept the things that we like and disregard the rest. I can't just do the tasks my boss asks me to do and ignore those I don't like...there are consequences. I can't pay the bills that I feel good about this month and throw away the others. This line of thinking is TREMENDOUSLY flawed...the universe doesn't revolve around our own whims. There is order. There is right and wrong.


Sorry Oprah...this is one guy that isn't buying it.

Friday, April 11, 2008

Political in Nature

I'm sick of politics like the rest of the US. I do have to post one more about why you should not vote for Obama. Get past his articulate nature, his good speeches, and his good looks and see what he is really about. He puts on such a good facade so that people like you will vote for him. Check out this article. It really gives some insight to what he stands for and maybe all you who are blinded by his facade will realize what he's about. Are you sure you want him to become our next leader?

BEYOND OBAMA'S BEAUTY
(Excerpts from http://www2.nysun.com/article/71278?page_no=1)

It's an amazing time to be alive in America. We're in a year of firsts in this presidential election: the first viable woman candidate; the first viable African-American candidate; and, a candidate who is the first frontrunning freedom fighter over 70. The next president of America will be a first.

We won't truly be in an election of firsts, however, until we judge every candidate by where they stand. We won't arrive where we should be until we no longer talk about skin color or gender.

Now that Barack Obama steps to the front of the Democratic field, we need to stop talking about his race, and start talking about his policies and his politics.

The reality is this: Though the Democrats will not have a nominee until August, unless Hillary Clinton drops out, Mr. Obama is now the frontrunner, and its time America takes a closer and deeper look at him.

Some pundits are calling him the next John F. Kennedy. He's not. He's the next George McGovern. And it's time people learned the facts.

Because the truth is that Mr. Obama is the single most liberal senator in the entire U.S. Senate. He is more liberal than Ted Kennedy, Bernie Sanders, or Mrs. Clinton.

Never in my life have I seen a presidential frontrunner whose rhetoric is so far removed from his record. Walter Mondale promised to raise our taxes, and he lost. George McGovern promised military weakness, and he lost. Michael Dukakis promised a liberal domestic agenda, and he lost.

Yet Mr. Obama is promising all those things, and he's not behind in the polls. Why? Because the press has dealt with him as if he were in a beauty pageant.

Mr. Obama talks about getting past party, getting past red and blue, to lead the United States of America. But let's look at the more defined strokes of who he is underneath this superficial "beauty."

Start with national security, since the president's most important duties are as commander-in-chief. Over the summer, Mr. Obama talked about invading Pakistan, a nation armed with nuclear weapons; meeting without preconditions with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who vows to destroy Israel and create another Holocaust; and Kim Jong Il, who is murdering and starving his people, but emphasized that the nuclear option was off the table against terrorists — something no president has ever taken off the table since we created nuclear weapons in the 1940s. Even Democrats who have worked in national security condemned all of those remarks. Mr. Obama is a foreign-policy novice who would put our national security at risk.

Next, consider economic policy. For all its faults, our health care system is the strongest in the world. And free trade agreements, created by Bill Clinton as well as President Bush, have made more goods more affordable so that even people of modest means can live a life that no one imagined a generation ago. Yet Mr. Obama promises to raise taxes on "the rich."

How to fix Social Security? Raise taxes. How to fix Medicare? Raise taxes. Prescription drugs? Raise taxes. Free college? Raise taxes. Socialize medicine? Raise taxes. His solution to everything is to have government take it over. Big Brother on steroids, funded by your paycheck. (My comment--hmm not at all socialist, is it?? We may as well live in China under communism if he gets elected.)

Finally, look at the social issues. Mr. Obama had the audacity to open a stadium rally by saying, "All praise and glory to God!" but says that Christian leaders speaking for life and marriage have "hijacked" — hijacked — Christianity. He is pro-partial birth abortion, and promises to appoint Supreme Court justices who will rule any restriction on it unconstitutional. He espouses the abortion views of Margaret Sanger, one of the early advocates of racial cleansing. In Illinois, he refused to vote against a statewide ban — ban — on all handguns in the state. These are radical left, Hollywood, and San Francisco values, not Middle America values.

The real Mr. Obama is an easy target for the general election. Mrs. Clinton is a far tougher opponent. But Mr. Obama could win if people don't start looking behind his veneer and flowery speeches. His vision of "bringing America together" means saying that those who disagree with his agenda for America are hijackers or warmongers. Uniting the country means adopting his liberal agenda and abandoning any conflicting beliefs.

But right now everyone is talking about how eloquent of a speaker he is and — yes — they're talking about his race. Those should never be the factors on which we base our choice for president. Mr. Obama's radical agenda sets him far outside the American mainstream, to the left of Mrs. Clinton.

It's time to talk about the real Barack Obama. In an election of firsts, let's first make sure we elect the person who is qualified to be our president in a nuclear age during a global civilizational war.

Saturday, April 5, 2008

We love our visitors...

This weekend we had the Berger's come down to visit us from good ole Minnesota! Its spring break and they wanted to get away somewhere different. We've already had a lot of fun and its only Saturday morning! They came in Thursday night and yesterday the three of them (Julie, Jordan - 16, and Simon - 6) all went out to the Jelly Belly Factory for a "free" tour. They key though is trying to get out of there without buying any of their product. I wish I could have gone, but alas someone has to make some money around here, right? :-) Later that night we met them at "The Family Fun Center" in Gurnee for some fun games...Meg and I are all about earning tickets so we had a BLAST! It was fun to see how excited Simon would get when he would do well at a game! Best feature though, they have the original Big Buck Hunter there and its only $.50 per person for a whole round so you get 20 sites for two people for $1!!

Today we are taking the Metra down to Chicago. For those that have heard about Meg's experiences on the Metra, we are ready for an eventful day!! I think the plan is to see Navy Pier and Millennium Park, we are trying to keep it on the cheap since Julie spent all her money on the "free" tour! For those who haven't been there, Navy Pier is a great place and getting in is totally free. There is a HUGE lake front Ferris Wheel and a couple other smaller rides, some shopping, lots of summertime boat cruises, and more. Its a fun little place to visit and the views are about as good as they get with the Chicago skyline and Lake Michigan surrounding it. Millennium Park, or Grant Park as I grew up calling it, is a wonderful 25 acre park in the heart of downtown Chicago. There is a HUGE (not so attractive) amphitheater with room for 4000 people and apparently some of the best outdoor acoustics around for summer concerts. It would be fun to see a show there sometime. In addition the park is littered with art and monuments including "Cloud Gate" which is a pretty cool 33 foot high (66 foot wide) umm jelly bean (stick with a theme I guess...its on the left of the picture) that is completely reflective. They even have a 300 space indoor heated bike parking facility and a really innovative giant LED lighted fountain (see bottom of picture) that you have to see to believe. You'll have to check these places out if you ever come here!

Its really fun having friends from home here visiting with us. Just about the only time we ever go downtown is when visitors come so its still pretty exciting for us. I am sure today will be filled with a lot of fun...I just hope we aren't TOO tired from all the walking!!