My Ebenezer

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You know, it never ceases to amaze me how screwed up our society is. We have so many people in jail that we let the “good guys” out early. Birthmom was in jail, sentenced to 30 days and was released after 15. “Time off for good behavior”. This is a pregnant drug addict (suppsedly pregnant) we are talking about. I hope that the jail did not know she was pregnant or that she really isn’t pregnant. If they let her go early knowing she is pregnant, that pisses me off in a whole new way.

In Texas, it is not a crime to do drugs while you are pregnant. Obviously, drug use is a crime, but doing it while pregnant is not an additional crime. If someone murders a pregnant woman who is far enough along, he can get charged with two counts of murder or at least one count muder and one count manslaughter. But a woman can pass drugs to her infant and nothing is done.

I’m feeling extra pissy today. Can you tell? It’s going to be a long day with work and even longer with more work. ARGH.

Daddyo and I are planning a getaway and I thought I found a place we might be interested in. It sounded like something we’d enjoy and I was about ready to book it….until I decided to google it to see if there were any reviews. And look guess what I found?

You really need to click the link and listen to the very short video before reading any further. Seriously. Go back and do it now. Why are you still reading? GO CLICK AND WATCH/LISTEN.

When i saw this my stomach turned. First, I’m constantly amazed at people’s ignorance and outright racist attitudes. Secondly, I’m really ticked that I can’t go there now. Finally, I’m a little shocked and the reply I got from the late owner’s wife. I’m even a little hesistant to put it here for fear of the search engine traffic it might send my way, but here we go. I emailed her the clip and asked if this was the same ranch. (I was fairly certain it was).

This is the response I got from her (and I do quote):

“Oh My God, about Borat….. Yes, we were Borated!! It happened in 2003. He is a comedian
as I’m sure you know. We had never heard of him when he came to our ranch. He specializes
in pretending to be someone he isn’t and then making fun of innocent accommodating hosts.

He came to our ranch as someone who wanted to make a hunting video for his fellow Kazakhstanies
to come to Texas to hunt. I didn’t think it sounded right but went along with my husbands wishes.
My husband died in 2004 and I’m sure is turning over in his grave over this. My husband was not
a racist, he had many Jewish friends and loved them dearly. Gene was merely being a good host
and going along with this crazy Jew hating Moslem.“

Um, yeah. doesn’t sound to me like there are any questionable attitudes or beliefs happening there. I have not yet responded because honestly, I’m not sure what to say.

Though I wouldn’t be comfortable with the idea that someone would even go along with something like that just because “the customer is always right”, I guess I could get my mind around how someone might not object to the comments. Someone who is brain dead and doesn’t have a spine, but someone. BUT, how is adding your own commentary on it just “going along with it”. I mean, I guess what I’m saying is that if Borat was making all the anti-semetic comments and the other guy just didn’t say anything, that would be one thing. But he was certainly not quiet. And for someone who “is not racist…”, he sure made some strong anti-semetic statements.

I have to respond. I can not just let it go. I’m just not sure what to say exactly. What I’d like to say is, “um, we’re going to pass, but thanks anyway. Oh, and by the way, when you are trying to convince someone that you are not racist, you might consider avoiding phrases such as ‘Jewish hating Muslim”.

I’m so infuriated.

Gracey sure is helpful. Before I can explain what makes her so helpful, you need a little background information:

Daddyo thinks it is hilarious to have Carter or Gracey “pull his finger”. Gracey has recently started to “get it” and thinks it is hysterical.

Gracey also says “poo poo” when she hears someone fart or she’ll tell you she has poo poo when she farts.

Finally, she has recently become incredibly curious about what goes on when mommy is on the potty. She likes to get up close and personal so she can check things out. (good on the potty training front, not so good on the privacy front)

I’m sure your are all very intrigued to see where this is going.

So this morning, I was on the potty taking care of some business and she is doing her usual “ooohs” and “aaahhhhs” as she gets as close as humanly possible to watch my bodily functions. All of the sudden, she starts pulling on my finger saying, “I help you….I help you….I help you….!!!” It took me a sec to realize what she was doing and then I just lost it. My littler helper.

Another Gracey tale:

In the store this morning, she dropped her “boo” (a little lovey) on the floor so i picked it up and told her to be careful not to drop it. She gave it a big hug and said, “I so sowweee, Boo!”

I’m interested to hear what you have to say:

ABOUT THIS.

We had pictures made this morning and I have some REALLY cute ones to share.

Later.

Okay, so I’m not nearly as cool as Baggage, who is giving away a free IPOD, but I am going to play the giveaway game. Want a free ticket to Hannah Montana? How about a free DVD player? a free coach purse? diamond earrings? GPS navigating system? If so, you’re at the wrong blog because I don’t have any of those things to offer.

I do have a wonderful book that many of you may have heard of. It was even made into a movie last summer or maybe the summer before. Obviously, it’s not a new book. The book I’m giving away is “The Ultimate Gift” by Jim Stovall. It is a great “feel good” book full of valuable lessons about life. It is an inspiring and uplifting story about a young man receiving an inheritence that changes his life. Besides all that, it’s free. You won’t even pay shipping and handling.

To enter my completely original and irresistible contest, all you have to do is leave a comment. I’ll enter your name into a hat when you leave me a comment on this post and if you link to my blog I’ll enter your name 5 times. (that is completely copying Baggage. Maybe she won’t mind since I’m linking to her a few times. And hey, if I happen to win the IPOD, maybe I’ll regive it away here. Or maybe not. )

The winner will be announced right here next week on Friday, February 22. So join in the fun and maybe you’ll win a book. If you’ve already read it, it makes a great gift.

Come on, you know you want to win it.

Work has been really busy lately. I’m doing a lot more consulting and I like that I get to “play dress up” more often. That’s what it feels like, though I’m not really dressing up. Because I do everything online, I’m actually working in my jammies most of the time. But it’s nice to contribute to a company other than toysrus. ha ha You know what I mean. It’s just nice to get to wear my business hat and get my brain stimulated.

It’s been so busy lately that I feel like I’m scheduling mommy time around work time and that’s the part I don’t like so much. I want to be a stay at home mom and I want to be the one to parent my kids….. but I also want to work. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to do both. Looks like I need to get back on a more regimented schedule with the kids. Maybe if we have a little more structured time it would be easier for all of us when I schedule in some work time. Is it possible to work at home when you have a 2 year old and a 4 year old?

Speaking of work, I’m taking the kids to get pictures taken tomorrow. God help us. Gracey will get her 2 year photos, Carter his 4 year and I’m hoping to get one or two with both of them. Who knows, maybe mommy will even jump in for a shot or two.

So, remember my schedule from this week and how crazy it looked? Friday got a little less crazy because we are no longer having extra kids – but I’m disappointed about that. I was looking forward to having a little sleep over with extra little ones. Speaking of, my dear friend is having a hysterectomy (spelling???) tomorrow so keep her in your prayers, please.

Daddyo came home tonight with roses for me and also a rose for Gracey. He has decided that every year he will leave a rose for her on the bathroom counter so she’ll see it when she gets up to get ready for school. When i reminded him that she doesn’t go to the bathroom to get ready yet and perhaps it would be good to put it on her dresser for the first few years, he said no. He is putting on the bathroom counter so that he can tell her when she is older that he left a rose for her in that same place every year since she was 2 years old.

He got Carter a camo shirt.

I am so thankful my kids have such a wonderfu daddy.

So, with the whole ADHD thing or whatever it is that keeps Carter “Carter”, I’m trying to take a proactive approach rather than a reactive one. The school system offers a program in pre-k for kids with special needs and while ADHD falls under that category, it is only offered when there are developmental delays. The good news is that Carter does not have any developmental or educational delays at this point. The bad news is that until he does, they offer no assistence in preparing him for Kindergarden.

I actually looked and the lady during our meeting yesterday and said, “so what I hear you telling me is that in order to get help from the school system, he must first begin to fail in the classroom. There is no option to help prevent failure in the classroom.” She was very nice and almost empathetic and sweetly said, “it may not even come to that. As long as he is getting the information, he it may never cause a disruption in his learning.” As she is saying this, I’m wondering exactly how a Kindergarden teacher is going to keep Carter in his seat. Or if she’ll be willing to let him walk around the back of the room, disrupting others as he gets into everything since he is still listening as he does so.

It’s rather frustrating as a parent to try and be proactive when you’re working with a reactive school system. We still have two other options we are looking into, one is through Texas Children’s and the other is through a private school. We’re keeping our fingers crossed that Texas Children’s will offer something to help us help Carter.

I get frustrated when I constantly hear from physicians, nurses, diagnosticians, etc…. “he’s barely even 4, this just may be the way he is and he may grow out of it. He may just need to mature a little bit more. 4 is way too young to diagnose ADHD.” While that information may be true, it is not at all helpful. Because he is struggling right now in preschool. He’s way off from others his age, even others who are consided “very active”. So screw you for thinking you know my kid better than I do. Honestly, do you think I WANT him to have issues? Am I making all of this up?

I guess what frustrates me most is that in a few cases I’ve actually felt like the person/physician/nurse/diagnostician/etc… was thinking I was nuts for even pursuing any of this right now. I mean, I get that this could all magically go away in the next year. I get that we could all wake up one morning and Carter will have suddenly gained the ability to focus and pay attention without fidgeting and moving around. I’m not saying it’s impossible. But would it be responsible parenting for me to just assume that it’s going to happen and not even attempt to somehow intervene before it effects his education and his self-esteem?

I get the whole roll of the eye thing whenever I mention Carter’s self-esteem. I think self-esteem is one of the biggest issues kids with ADHD struggle with and that is more important to me than even the education piece. I would rather see him have a healthy self-esteem than a better education. He can deal with the educational stuff but if he has a low self-esteem, that’s a lot more difficult to overcome. So while some roll their eyes and look at me like I’m one of those psyche protecting, permissive parents……. I can’t help but wonder if they’d look at it differently if it were their child? The self-esteem issue doesn’t seem to matter – unless it is your child we’re talking about.

Bleh. Enough griping. This parenting business isn’t always easy but I’m getting better at not caring what anyone else thinks. Good news for me. Bad news for you. ha ha ha ha

If you haven’t ever read Baggage that Goes with Mine you should really check it out. Not just because she is giving away a free Ipod but because she refers to her girl parts as “ladytown” and that cracks me up.

Baggage is a foster and adoptive mom who tells it like it is. She’s constantly updating and always interesting to read. Go on. You know you want to read about her LadyTown.

"Samuel took a single rock and set it upright between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (Rock of Help), saying, This marks the place where GOD helped us."

1 Samuel 7:12 The Message

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