BEST GIFT EVER!!!!!

Aloha!!! I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend so far! We are having a great one! So far we have had a blast!! AND, we still have 2 days to go! WHOOHOO!!! We sure love those 96's! :)

I have had SO much on my mind this week! After all, it has been a pretty huge week! We have a new president, President Elect Barack Obama. Living on a military base, I see ALOT of disappointed Republicans right now! I'm not one to debate politics, and I surely wouldn't call myself an expert on the subject, but I am excited for the change that I think he will bring! I do not vote party, I vote candidate, and I almost always would consider myself a Republican until t his election. I understand the concerns that our more conservative friends have for our country, as I myself don't agree with everything he stands for. But I do think that, as in any election, the things he stands for that create debate were very VERY stretched and exaggerated during all the campaigning. The one that sticks out to me the most (that I actually posted on myspace and believed until I did my research on it! OOPS!) was the video of a nurse talking about his support of partial-birth abortions. They make the man out to be a homicidal lunatic, ready to begin his 4-year baby killing rampage in January, and that is SO far from the truth! His thoughts on the war were another one that got blown out of proportion. The Conservative media made it sound like he wants to pull completely out and surrender. The debate that I listened to talked about pulling out of Iraq within a year and a half (far long enough to wrap up) and then shift focus to Afghanistan, ya know, the country we ACTUALLY went to war with in the first place!!! I'm so glad we got Sadam, but I would be pretty dang excited if we could catch Bin Laden!!! I'm glad that this will be a priority now! I am very excited about his urgency to find another energy source and do away with our rewardless oil dependency. The relatively immediate future of this planet depends on our ability to stop polluting it, and I thank God that we didn't put someone in office who's answer to everything is to keep drilling. Please, don't get me wrong, I'm far from an earth-muffin. I'm just a mom who wants to see her children be able to grow up and have children of their own without climate change interfering. I have always felt as though his thoughts on healthcare are far more conducive to accomplishing the goal of a well-insured America, and I am excited to see him take action with both of those issues. Our pastor today talked about the election, and with a completely unbiased opinion, he reminded our congregation that regardless of how we feel about our new president, we all have a responsibility to pray for him and all of our leaders. With the shape of our war and our economy, whoever was to be elected would be extremely needy of all of our prayers. I will pray for President Elect Obama everyday, and for the task he has at hand, and the decisions that he makes. God is still sovereign over all of creation, and that alone is enough for me to have faith in our future!

Doc, Jordan, and I have enjoyed a very quiet weekend so far! We went to a cookout on Saturday with all of the Corpsman that Doc works with. It was a nice opportunity to meet people, since most of my friends are Marine Corps wives :) I got to meet alot of Doc's, and a couple wives, and Jordan had a blast with all that guys! She was the only child there, and her big bright eyes and charming smile had won over everyone by the time we left! All by herself she started calling one of Doc's friends "Uncle", and then she sweet talked another into giving her a chip buffet, as well as emptying her tippy cup of water and refilling it with soda! LOL Man she is growing SO SO fast!! I really thought that we were in for a terrible day yesterday when I saw 16 single men show up and not one person with other children, but Jordan quickly became the life of the party and we had a great time :)

Tomorrow is my birthday, and a big group of us are going out to lunch and then to Bellow's to the beach all day! I'm super excited for a nice low key celebration :) I think this next weekend Doc and I are going to try to do a date night, and have our own little celebration then! It should be lots of fun!

Also this week, Doc and I received the most awesome gift, and we are SO SO SO SO SO excited for it!!!! For a wedding gift, my Father-in-Law and Step-Mother-In-Law, as well as Brother-in-Law and Sister-In-Law bought us 3 plane tickets to come to Oregon for Christmas!!!! We will finally get to spend the holidays with Doc's Dad's side of the family out west, as well as with John and Brenda (Doc's brother and his wife). There are no words to explain how much this means to us! I will finally get to meet some people that I have been emailing for years and never gotten the chance to meet face to face, and we will be able to have a Christmas with our family!!! WOW! We have never been able to spend a holiday out west, so this is just awesome! AND, the best part is that it will be COLD there!!!! You wouldn't believe how much you actually miss that! I can't wait to go shopping for jeans and sweaters!! (and surprisingly enough, they actually sell them here! the locals like to pretend like they have a winter....they're a little nutty!!) Hopefully we'll see snow, and get to take Jordan tubing! SO exciting! We are set to fly out on Dec 23rd, and come home on the 1st! Anyway, we'll keep you all posted on that!

Well, I hope you all have a great week this week! Have a wonderful Veteran's Day!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE thank a Veteran if you see one!!! As a matter of fact, THANK THEM ALL!!!! They all deserve our most sincere appreciation, and as a daughter of a Veteran, I can personally tell you that it means the world to them to know that someone remembers their sacrifice! Thank you to all of my friends who have or are currently serving our country, and thank you to all of their families! You're all heroes, and your courage and bravery has made this country what it is today! One Nation. Under God. Indivisible. With Liberty And Justice For All! Have a great week!