Memorial Day

It was not only memorial day, it was also my mil b-day. So we headed over to the local Walmart to pick up some hot dogs and get a little cake. My brother in law and sister in law (Ryan and Jenny ) were out for lunch as well, so the whole family that now resides in Toccoa were together. It is a significantly smaller family now that T & L have moved to AL, and sil Sandi is in Africa for the summer and fall. The weather was fantastic all weekend, even though we are so dry from the lack of rain.

The puking has started again. Last night it was Austin's turn, he seems better this morning so maybe it won't be so bad this time. The truth is ever since May 3rd we have had stomach problems, Nate and I felt icky off and on and have had trouble with the bowels since the homeschool conference, and Austin has had bowel troubles for the last 4 or 5 days. We need to do some serious detoxing at our house and get our insides healthy again. I have felt sluggish for at least a month now.

Since it is memorial day, I will take this opportunity to express my views on the current situation in Iraq. I think the situation over there is a disaster and huge mess, however I also believe that if we had to do it all over again, I would choose to do what we did. Whether or not we found weapons of mass destruction, or if Iraq was involved in 9/11 is irrelevant to me. What is important is the fact that Saddam and his administration were ruthlessly and randomly killing, and torturing the citizens of Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of citizens had been killed over the years, and there was no end in sight, even with sanctions and pressures from the U.N. The torture was sure to continue even after Saddam was dead and gone, because his sons were worse than their father. So I am thankful and feel proud of our efforts to give the people of Iraq a chance to have a democratic govt, what they choose to do with their opportunity is up to them. I realize that civil war is likely, I realize that peace is a far off, unlikely hope, but I still believe that if you have the power and means to help the defenseless that you should, regardless of the cost to yourself. No greater love is this than one lay down his life for a friend. So my thoughts on this subject don't stop with Iraq alone, the north korean people need some serious help, as do the people of Darfur and the Sudan. Peaceful means to the end of the conflicts should be exhausted, but if that doesn't work, then the good people of the world should take action. A hero isn't someone who ways the odds, or studies the situation to see if the outcome will benefit him. A hero is someone who doesn't think about their own welfare and comfort, but gives of themselves sacrificially. I honestly believe that if the firemen and policemen of New York knew that the World Trade Centers towers were going to collapse at any time, they still would have climbed those steps to direct, comfort and save all that they could, even if they knew that the outcome would be that they would not return, because that is what a hero does, and they were all heroes in my book. Whether we "win" in Iraq, or whether or not there is "peace " in Iraq is irrelevant to me, what is relevant is that we were simply there to give the people a fighting chane of being free. I also realize that I can't honestly say that Americas motive for being there is that pure. I realize that one of the reasons we didn't help the people of Rwanda in the 90's and now the people of Darfur is because they don't have anything to offer our country monetarily. However, something needs to be done, I can not turn a blind eye to the suffering of my race, (the human race) I can not and will not believe that my life or the life of an American solider is more valuable in the eyes of God than a naked, poor, black farmer of Sudan. So when people start screaming about the cost, whether in American lives, or American dollars, that doesn't move me to re-evaluate my position, because one life isn't more valuable than another, and there is plenty of money to make the RIGHT things happen in our world