CNN Again

Yet another CNN article about the Frederick area. This is the fifth or so murder-suicide this year, and at least the third involving children. So heartbreaking.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/23/park.deaths.ap/index.html

Headlines

Frederick made CNN.com again.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/18/taser.death/index.html

:(

I read the story in the FNP (local paper) this morning, where the family named the young man. So sad. And interesting that this follows closely behind a recent Taser incident at one of the county high schools, where an officer Tasered a student.

The Joys of Pregnancy

Gotta love being pregnant. I spent hours yesterday (and early this morning) scrubbing the bathtub and rearranging/reorganzing the storage shelves in the hall bathroom. Of course, our living room, kitchen and dining room are all disasters. We dumped suitcases from our trip to IL in the living room. The kitchen island is piled high with two weeks of mail. The dining room table mostly covered with papers, Roomba parts, and sundry items. But did I clean those areas? Nope. I straighted three shelves ... in the same amount of time it would take me to have cleaned the living room/kitchen/dining room.

The countdown is on! We're due four weeks from Saturday, or approximately 33 days. You hear that, little baby? Your lease is almost up ... consider this your eviction notice.

:)

Hate.

Well, it's official. My child hates me. Or so she says. Today, just four days prior to turning two-and-one-half, Katrina said, "I hate you!" We were in the car on the way home from the babysitter's house and I said, "Brrr! It's cold!" Katrina replied, "No cold! I hate you! I hate you!" (I'm sure everyone would agree she gets her irrational-ness from me.) I asked her what she said, and she repeated, "I hate you!" I asked if she said she was hitting me ('I hit you') and she said, "No! I hate you!" I launched into the whole "we-don't-hate-that's-not-a-nice-word-mommy-loves-you" spiel, to which she replied, "It cold."

*sigh*

Is this foreshadowing of what the teen years will be like?

Finally Free

I was/am in a terrible mood. Irritated with work. Then this morning on the way to work, I heard "Finally Free" by Nichole Nordeman. These lines especially spoke to me:

And if the Son has set us free
Then we must be free indeed
Let the chains fall away, starting today
Everything has changed
I'm finally free

I _am_ free, free from the bondage of sin and the cares of this world. This song reminded me that the petty things do not matter, and it's time to move on.

Of course, I still had a hard time not crying while I was washing my coffee mug this morning. Stupid hormones.

New pictures!

Among the many other things going on in my life now, we *finally* updated our photo gallery. Yes, here it is November and we are just now getting around to adding photos for all of 2007. You can view the pictures here: http://xar.us/gallery2/v/2007/

Enjoy!