A Year of Change

Today is Christmas Eve, everyone is excited, but first, the Denver Bronco’s won their 10th game in a row! Jag, Aunt Robi, Robert and I took off a little before 1pm for the game. We made it to our seats about 20 minutes before kickoff after Aunt Robi and Robert took some pictures of themselves in front of the stadium. We started off by marching down the field and scoring a touchdown. By the time it was the middle of the 4th quarter, we had held Cleveland to about 150 yards. The oldest had hot chocolate, a pretzel and a Sprite and was arm wrestling with Aunt Robi as it was kind of a bit boring for stretches as we seemed to score at will. Aunt Robi and Robert had a good time as Chris and Mark (the guys who always sit behind us) were in late season form ribbing the Browns fans, the refs and any other thing we could find to joke about during the game. It’s always like that, we always have fun in our section.

We rushed home and dropped Aunt Robi and Robert at Uncle T’s and then picked up the youngest and Mom and headed out to the oldest guys friends house where we arrived just as Santa was getting his big red bag of presents ready for the kids. After a half an hour there, we loaded up and headed to Mark and Carries for dinner. We had a fun time visiting while the kids played and then we all, parents and kids, played a game they gave us for Christmas. We made it home by 9 and everyone headed straight to bed. I slept in until about 5:30 this morning, yea, and the misses joined me about 6. Her hip has tightened up and she can barely walk and is in pain. Hope it’s not broke! We’ll have to go for an x-ray but’ll probably wait until Wednesday.

Tonight I’ll go…uh oh….the post dropped the rest of the Mr.’s writings, so I’ll try to fill in.

Tonight The Mr. will drive to Parisi (one of his accounts) and pick up our yummy Christmas Eve dinner.  We are having artichoke chicken, veggies, salad and perhaps a potato dish, and for desert tiramisu.  Grandma, Aunt Shelly, Aunt Robin and Robert as well as our crew will be in attendance. We offered to have Uncle T. Aunti B. and her family as well, but I think they have quite a few people and maybe felt like an imposition. It would have been fine….I did have 2o something here for book club.

The oldest is down on the couch with us and I need to make a list and the youngest just made his way to the family room in my cozy robe.

I (the Mr.)have a bit of never ending cleaning to do…the dining table looks like a major wrapping station, and not an organized one.  Oh well at least the packages look pretty. We are off to start the day.

Merry Christmas Eve…and God Bless.

That’s right, 48 hours until Christmas morning. The boys are getting amped up! Yesterday was a blur. I was seemingly everywhere and don’t remember much. Avi was over playing with the boys from 9 am on for I don’t know how long. They sure have fun with each other, especially our youngest and Avi. Sometime in the morning the misses was standing in the kitchen when I heard her scream. Somehow her hip went out, the same hip that started this whole headache thing. She couldn’t stand or even walk so I managed to get her to the couch and grabbed the heating pad. I feel so bad for her but just don’t know what to do. We’re praying for some divine intervention to sure her.

The boys played up at Grandma’s after Aunt Robi and Robert arrived around 2pm. I was out working and made it home by about 5pm and then rushed to change shirts to head up to Grandma’s for the big party. We had some food brought in from one of my accounts and all had a fun evening being together for the first time in a long long time. The only person missing was my Dad but that’s life. I’m sure he was looking down happily on all of us. We had of course my Mom, Uncle T and Aunt Ali, Aunt Shelly, Aunt Robi, Robert, Tasha, Derek (her husband) Avi, the misses, the boys and I. We took a bunch of pictures that we’ll share after Tasha emails them to me. It’s a little after 5am right now and they should be leaving for the airport to catch their 8:10 flight to St. Louis where Derek’s parents live. It was a nice feeling to have everyone together, I think my Mom really enjoyed all the activity but I’m not too sure about Popcorn, her little dog.

Today the oldest, Aunt Robi, Robert and I are going to the Broncos game. Right after that, our family goes over to the oldest guys friends house where they have the same Santa (maybe the real one!) who shows up every year to give the kids gifts. Then we need to leave there and head over the Mark and Carries to visit with them and exchange gifts so it’ll be a busy busy day. Lucky I slept in until 4:30. I was planning on sleeping in longer but sometimes the misses talks in her sleep and last night was one of those nights! A little after 2am I woke up hearing her say something like, “I already have that prescription”  and then it was on and off dozing for me until 4:30. Good news is I can get to the gym and run a couple of miles and be home before anyone is up. Bad news is I’m usually yawning by 7 or 8 at night! At this rate, I’ll have no trouble going to sleep in time on Christmas eve so Santa can come.

That’s it, no musings on the World, societies failings, gun control, politics and other stuff today or for awhile. I’m going to just try to focus on Christmas and the family. Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Well, here we go. The boys are out of school, Aunt Robi arrives today, we still have some shopping to do, and we’re supposed to be in two places at once tonight. We have to have a family picture taken sometime today and then we’re supposed to be in Vail for a party this evening. We’re trying to get out of the 2 hour plus round trip drive to Vail but all our friends are counting on us at least showing up. We’ll see what happens.

Yesterday I ran some more errands, had a quick haircut and did a little grocery shopping while the misses played room Mom for both boys Christmas party’s. After school they played at friends houses until 5:30 when Avi (Tasha’s 5 year old daughter) came over to play. It sounded like a herd of elephants upstairs. They ran around and played everything from tag to hide and go seek all in the house while the misses and I sat on the couch trying to let kids be kids. It’s a miracle nothing was broken. They had a blast but finally at 8pm we had enough and Avi went back to my Mom’s where she’s staying.

This morning I need to run up to a couple of friends houses while the misses will try to keep her head calm. She had a bad headache yesterday that was so bad, my Mom said she looked terrible. We both laughed a bit as if anyone really knew the pain the misses is constantly in, it’s a miracle she can get out of bed.

A couple of quick things on the national front. The NRA proposes armed security in schools, (we have armed guards at malls and airports, but not schools???), the World didn’t end, (did you really think it would?) and over 1 million citizens have signed petitions for their state to secede from the U.S.

First on guns, obviously there are two sides here and they really come down to where you live. In rural America, the backbone of our country like farms and ranches and the center of the country, people are predominately pro gun while in the big cities, especially on the coasts, like L.A. and New York, they are anti gun. So why not make them illegal in those big cities and legal in rural America and then people can move where they want. Or better yet, follow the 10th Amendment and let each state decide. Then pro gun people could move to Wyoming and such and anti gun people could move to California. Then we’ll see who has the higher crime rates. Look, this was a horrific tragedy a week or so ago but we live in a country of over 300 million people. The odds alone are stuff like this is going to happen but as a percentage, it’s miniscule. I’m not trying to minimize anything, just trying to put it into perspective. As I said a day or so ago, every single thing (especially bad things), that happen, is instantly in our face. Remember news ratings don’t come from happy stories! Mark my words, no new gun law, (there are over 20,000 now) will stop bad people from getting guns and doing bad things.

Next, the end of the World. I submit that it’s going on as we speak. I can list fact after fact that shows our society is not headed in the right direction. This includes things we do that have immediate effect to those earth changes that have been coming on for years. This biggest worry is society, or people themselves. I sure do long for the days of the 50’s and the 60’s when every home had two parents, kids and people in general were respectful of each other and life was simpler. I pretty much covered this yesterday.

Last, there’s a great divide in our country. Half the people support one agenda while the other half vehemently opposes it. It’s like we’re already two different country’s, rural and urban. Looking at all our friends, and I’m sure yours, you have some people that love what the President is doing and others that don’t. Sooner or later, somethings gotta give.

So there you have it. Personally we’d like to move to a more rural area that still has some modern conveniences like a good hospital. Steamboat’s our dream destination but we won’t be going anywhere soon as we want to be near Grandma and Uncle T and Aunt B. After all, we need to look after them!

Well that’s it, 72 hours until Santa arrives. Hope everyone has been good this year. As my Mom always says, it comes so fast and before you know it, it’s gone. Enjoy each and every moment, not just the day, the moment, as time fly’s. I can’t believe my brother and sister and I are all in our 50’s! It’ll be good for all of us to be together at the same time.

Take care, stay safe and God Bless and remember Wise Men seek Jesus Christ Lord.

Lots going on today. It’s the last day of school and then the kids are off for 19 days! I have tons of errands to do and the misses will be at the school going from room to room tending both boys party’s. Then the 3 days leading up to Christmas will begin and before you know it, it’ll be over.

One quick thing, a parent from the oldest guys class called yesterday to tell us that after Colonial Day our guy went up to each and every adult and shook their hand and thanked them for volunteering. He did this on his own and we had no idea, it’s so great to know that your children are so thoughtful. We’re really good parents!

Now onto the day, hopefully the World isn’t going to end with some big explosion or something but maybe the Mayans meant something entirely different. Maybe we’re all supposed to look at this as a time to think about who we are as a people and what’s really important to us.

So think on this,

We have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.

We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.

We’ve learned how to make a living, but not a life. We’ve added years to life not life to years. We’ve been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We’ve done larger things, but not always better things.

We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We’ve learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes.

Remember… spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.

Remember… say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.

Remember… to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a cent.

Remember… to say, ‘I love you’ to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.

Remember… to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.

Remember… give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.

Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.

Hope this makes everyone stop and take a breath and then maybe just maybe, the World WILL end as we know it and then a new happier, more meaningful beginning will come to us all.

God Bless,

Good Morning, the snow arrived shortly after the Mr. got home from the gym.  When all was said and done we had about 4 inches of fluffy, pristine snow on the ground.  Hurray!  The temperature remained below 20 degrees and the wind chill made it feel more like the Arctic than Colorado. Just in time for Christmas.  It is still extremely cold, 12 degrees…the news says 2degrees with the wind chill.  It should warm up into the high 30’s by this afternoon.

I went to school at 9:30 to volunteer for Colonial Day.  I was in charge of George Washington’s “Hoe Bread”….(no jokes necessary).  Basically, the bread was made from cornmeal, salt and boiling water.  The water was boiled over an open fire in order to sterilize it.  Once the batter was made the settlers heated up the end of a tilling hoe and cooked the cakes. We used an electric skillet…no open fires at school.

The kids made butter out of whipping cream.  The cream was poured into small jars and then the kids shook the jars until the cream turned to butter.  Our guy created the first “Perfect” pat of butter…of course.  Actually, his butter turned into a round ball of butter.  The volunteer running that station took a picture of his fabulous butter and him.  They also made calling cards with actual quills and ink from wells, candles, a child’s toy, yarn, silhouettes, and much much more.

All of the kids were dressed as pilgrims with the exception of our guy.  I had asked him if he wanted to dress as one of the many, or one of the only? He replied…”One of the only”. I had the clothes to do either.  However, the indian was by far going to be the most elaborate.  One of his friends came up with the nick name “Red Feather”….not sure why because I used pheasant feathers.  Our guy was very proud of his costume and sweetly thankful to me for helping him with it.

The oldest’s 4th grade teacher had a special day planned for the class she had last year for the hard work the kids put into the CSAP tests of last year.  She gave individual awards to the kids… they came up to her stage to receive the award, congratulations and a big hug from Mrs. Ramirez.  After the ceremony she had beautiful cupcakes for them.  Mrs. Ramirez is one amazing educator!

The youngest went with a few friends to Jump Street after school(trampolines, zip  lines and foam pits).  He made it home just in time to go over to Uncle T.’s for Uncle T’s birthday celebration.  Family from Hawaii made it to Colorado safely.  I’m so glad we have this beautiful snow on the ground.  It would be unfortunate to arrive in the Rocky Mountains and see bare ground…especially after leaving the tropics for the visit.

Here is the Mr.  I have to start my morning.  I attached a photo of our “Lone Indian”.

That’s about it, nothing from me as we need to get moving, so time to go. One last thing, check out this interesting fact,

In the 67 year period from 1920 through 1987 before Prozac was introduced, the U.S. experienced 5 mass murder incidents that resulted in the deaths of 87 people. In the 26 years since Prozac was introduced, the U.S. experienced 50 mass murder incidents resulting in the deaths of 499 people. Clearly guns are the problem because no one in the U.S. owned any guns prior to 1987. (sarcasm mode off). Wonder how much just throwing meds at people contributes to the problems of society. Wouldn’t it be better to actually treat these people?

It’s 4am and I thought I’d be waking up to a bunch of snow but it’s not yet here. The news just showed it snowing hard about 5 minutes away so I guess it’s coming our way. Lots of schools have already announced they’ll be closed today I think due to the high winds they say will come with it. Hopefully I’ll get to the gym before it hits.

Today is Uncle T’s birthday. He’s 4 years younger than I so that makes him 52! I think we’re all going over to his house at 6pm. Tasha, my niece, also arrives sometime today along with her new husband Derek and little Aviak who is now 6 years old I think. They’ll stay until the 23rd which is the day after Aunt Robi arrives.

The misses is at school all day long helping out with Colonial Day in the 5th grade. Last night she wrapped 25 treats for one of the kids Christmas party’s this Friday. She’s organizing both again this year. We managed to get a little shopping done yesterday but still have lots to do. Some of you will be getting packages in the mail, don’t open them until Christmas!

The misses is still a celebrity around here with the school crowd. Parents and even grandparents of kids are sending emails, texts and calling with words of support and thanks. It looks like the support has swung her way and away from the move to sign a petition to change the 2nd Amendment. Maybe there’s hope for us yet! Jen’s Grandma who was the coroner on the Columbine shootings 10 or 15 years ago, thanked her very much a few times telling her that she is right to stand up for the Constitution and that her experience tells her guns are not the problem, mental illness is. No matter where you side on the gun debate, one thing is for sure, Americans are buying guns at a rate higher than ever before. Most stores are sold out of all types of guns as well as magazines. The background check wait is over 24 hours, while it normally takes 20 minutes. Everyone is fearful of some sort of ban coming soon so the panic buying has begun. As a long time collector and enthusiast, I’ve never seen anything like it, people are scared and don’t want to not be able to buy one. Both of my buddy’s stores had over $50,000 worth of pre sold guns waiting on background checks to clear, and that’s just from one day!

Some people may think this is bad but it’s a proven fact that states with the highest concealed weapon permits have the lowest violent crime. Did you know the Oregon mall shooter was actually stopped by a citizen with a concealed carry gun? The shooter saw him draw his gun, (the citizen not the police) and then shot himself. Of course the news doesn’t report that. Also it is fact that many many more lives have been saved by people who legally own a firearm that have stopped home invasions or rapes, but again, you don’t hear this. Now I do think that we need to find a way to better screen the mentally ill from getting guns but a knee jerk reaction to ban them, is just that, a knee jerk reaction. I understand it though as nothing is worse than innocent children being killed by some sick individual. Hopefully we can figure out a way to protect our rights and make it more difficult for the mentally ill or criminals to get guns. That’s all I’m going to say on the matter, time to move on.

Hard to believe it’s almost Christmas. It’ll be here and gone before you know it. We’re supposed to have snow Christmas day which is pretty rare. I think it only snows about 30% of the time. It’ll be cold at the Bronco game this Sunday which is just how the oldest and I like it! Hope Aunt Robi is prepared for the weather.

It’s almost 5am so time to get to the gym before the snow starts, whoops, too late, I just warmed up my coffee and looked outside and it’s snowing! I almost forgot to tell you, the oldest is going as an indian for Colonial Day. That was my idea as everyone else is going as a pilgrim I think. A bunch of kids parents went out and rented them elaborate costumes! I guess some people have lots of money. I’m sure, knowing the misses, the oldest will look better than any of those kids in rented costumes. We’ll get a picture or two.

Take care, stay safe and have a great day, God Bless.

Yesterday as you all know was the big guys birthday. He had a great day at school and soon after we arrived home, he opened a couple of presents from us and then we were all off to Elway’s for an early dinner. It’s his favorite restaurant and we took Jen as we did last year. We all had a great time and I think we were home by 7:30.

Yesterday the misses received an email from a Mom who has a 1st grader at the school through the schools email system. We were shocked as it was a request to sign a petition to change the 2nd Amendment to ban guns she is sending to the White House! Now first off, the school email list was not the appropriate forum and I called the principal right away as did a bunch of other parents complaining. Then what happened set off a mini firestorm of support which was badly needed. You see the misses wrote the most eloquent and respectful response to the entire list of people on the email. She pointed out that we need to look at the “why” this happened much more than the how. She stressed the lack of mental illness care we provide and how we throw people away (we think alike), and also explained how our culture of violence was more to blame than an actual gun. She then closed explaining why our founders put things in our Constitution and how and why it is not to be messed with.

Well that’s when the activity started. By a firestorm, I just mean lots of replies from other parents. It turns out everyone was sending her congratulatory emails thanking her for taking a stand and speaking out. She must have also received over a dozen texts as her phone was buzzing all through dinner. On top of that, people were also calling. One email was from Jens grandma who as it turns out was an investigator in the Columbine shootings years ago. This is the shooting where something like 20 kids and teachers were also gunned down. She said how much she respects and loves both of us for speaking out. Other parents now too are “replying to all” on the email voicing their support not only for the 2nd Amendment but for the Constitution in general. So overall the misses now is a celebrity at school, I can’t wait to see what happens this morning! I wouldn’t be surprised if she ends up on the news or even something like Ellen or Oprah! It’s good to know how many people believe in the Constitution and do understand that banning guns will not solve the problem. I had no idea so many people think this way. I guess it’s easier to speak out against guns after a tragedy than to speak out in support of them. So the misses is now viewed as the person who spoke up for our rights and took the lead in a difficult situation. She could probably run for office right now and win!

Snow is on the way and it’ll be much colder in the coming days. The oldest has inter-murals at 7 so time to get moving. Hope everyone is well, take care, have a great day and have some courage and speak out and stand up for the Constitution! God Bless.

Our oldest will officially be 11 years old at 3:58 p.m.  Eleven years ago the Mr. had called the time of arrival to be 4:00p.m.  He missed it be only 2 minutes….very intuitive.  This is one of my two absolutely favorite days of the year!

We woke at 6:20 (slept in) and the three of us sang “Happy Birthday” to the birthday boy from our bed (the youngest came in at 4:00 a.m.)and the birthday boy replied,”Thank You” when we finished the song.

We celebrate the 12 days of Christmas…also known as…St. Nick nights. They are the 12 nights before Christmas eve.  The boys put a shoe outside their doors before bedtime and St. Nicholas leaves something in the shoes for the boys before first light.  Last night he left very special gifts…they both received furry teddy bears…one brown and one cream.  The oldest had a reply letter from Santa along with his bear.  He won’t tell us what it says, or what he wrote to Santa about.  Santa knows and that is all that really matters.  We love the magic of Christmas!

The Mr. is going to finish the post….I’m off to make a “Birthday Breakfast”…..love to all!

Well the Broncos won and the Patriots lost ..(yea 49er’s)meaning we now have the number 2 seed. Tonight we’re all going to dinner and the birthday boy is bringing Jen. The misses and I made a little progress on shopping yesterday while Aunt B took the boys to the movies. Grandpa Bob and Aunt Robi each sent the oldest $11 for his big day.

I have about 2 hours of calls this morning and then it’s off to run some errands. Time to run so have a great day and if you’re going to call the birthday boy, do so between 3 and 4;45 as that’s when he’ll be home.

God Bless.

It’s a cool foggy morning out and you can see the humidity in the air. The misses and I cannot stop thinking about the pain the parents of those children killed must be going through. It put all the dog hair and the kids mess around here a bit more into perspective. We really didn’t care about it and just wanted to hang out as a family and hug our kids. A few parents at our school are talking about home schooling their kids and others are buying guns for protection. Emotions are all over the place with people searching for answers. As a parent you have to wonder about how safe your kids are. Yesterday the police arrested a kid in Tulsa OK that was planning an attack on his school. Things like this always bring out copy cats and you question whether or not it could happen at your school. My friend who’s a former Swat/police officer and trains people on firearms is super busy. He’s been at the range from sunup until sundown and says he’s never seen anything like it.

Here’s a comment from Grandma Annette,

Yesterday once agin we saw an unspeakable tragedy in Connecticut. It’s still too early to tell exactly what happened but one thing is for sure, this is all we’ll see on tv for some time to come. Here at our house we talked about it as they did at school before the kids even made it home. We tried our best to put it into perspective and explain that these things do happen in the World but that while you need to be aware of your surroundings, you can’t live in fear.

They say the shooter had a personality disorder, duh, and first shot his Mom and then went to the school where she was a substitute teacher where he then cut down innocent lives before killing himself. Of course the anti-gun people will blame the guns, that were bought and registered legally by his mother, others will blame society for creating a culture of violence we can’t get away from (movies, tv, video games and how we glorify violence in general) and others will blame mental illness. Personally I believe the main issue is one of mental illness.

Let’s first look at guns and mark my words, the government and others will be coming for them in one form or another. They will try to outlaw certain types of guns or magazines or something but they will try to exploit this to their advantage. How do we know guns are not the problem? Well let’s look at Switzerland or Israel where gun ownership is much much higher yet violent crimes are much lower. If someone wants to injure or kill people, not having a gun won’t stop them.  You see they, as a country and a culture do not glorify violence or ignore mental illness like we do. A 36 year old guy in China attacked 22 kids and 1 adult at a school there yesterday with a knife. No word yet on how many died but you get the point. Should we outlaw alcohol as it causes thousands of drunk driving deaths each year or how about the cars themselves? Now as a responsible gun owner, I’m not against things like required training or a longer waiting period to buy a gun, or a law requiring them to be locked up in a safe when not in use but I’m not sure anything would have helped here. This guy was clearly deranged and sick as we’re now finding out.

Second is society, why do we sell and push violence here in our country. Has anyone seen a movie lately? Most of the top sellers are action packed violent shoot em up features that have good guys and bad guys like Mission Impossible and Batman. Even the shows on tv these days are way out of line. How about the news? We’re so connected as a society that everything bad is instantly in our face. We can’t get away from it. Hollywood makes these things and will continue to as long as it sells. We’ll continue to see it non stop until we turn off the tv and stop patronizing these violent shows.

Last is mental illness. We’re now so politically correct and self absorbed that we won’t say anything or try to help someone who any of us can see, clearly needs help if it’s not in our close little circle. We drive down the street and ignore homeless people, the vast majority of who have emotional or personality disorders and who need help. As long as it doesn’t touch us personally, we just drive on by or ignore it, you do, I do, we all do. On top of this our society is falling apart and many feel hopeless and helpless and when they get to the point where they have nothing to lose, the sick and deranged people can and will do these kind of things. We need to reach out and help these people, there had to be some warning signs that were just ignored. One of his classmates said “I’m not surprised” and knew some of these warning signs, yet didn’t speak up. His neighbors said “he was not well” and he was autistic. The shooter was also supposed to be taking certain medication that he apparently stopped taking.

So, my point is that a new gun law or eliminating violent movies isn’t going to stop these type of things from happening. Will it help, sure, but all three things need to be addressed. So as a society we need to all begin to care for everyone and stop throwing people away who have some sort of problem. We also need to speak up when we see something. You can bet your life it’ll come out in the next few days that someone saw something and will say “I wish I said something”. Many of ours and the kids friends parents called yesterday wanting to know who I could direct them to to get a concealed weapons permit. The gun stores were packed with record sales as people are scared. This always happens when these things happen.

Now to our home, the youngest was scared and had a hard time going to sleep. A classmate of the oldest guys left school crying and between us, he seems like he has a little personality issue himself. After we talked about it, we put on Christmas shows and tried not to have any news channel on.

I was in Boulder twice yesterday finally arriving home at 7:30 after a tasting at Whole Foods. Today we’re having a family birthday party for the oldest after doing some shopping in the morning. We’ll try as best we can to block out the tragedy and move on but will address it again as a family in the coming days. As I told the youngest, you need to be prepared but you can’t live in fear. Now we just need the news to let it go and let everyone heal. Then after things settle down, we can address things that’ll help. I fear that politics will win out though and little will be done as like I said before, passing a new law on guns or limiting violent movies isn’t going to fix it. There is no panacea.

In times like these, we need to lean on God. That’s all you can do, pray for understanding, pray for the victims and their family’s and pray for all of us as a people. God Bless.