Pumpkin Patch time…..

Every year, I take the McKs to the Oakes Farm Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch.  Last year we went with her paternal cousins.  This year, I thought it would be nice to go with my cousins and their children.  We have never had an activity where all the great grandchildren went, so when everyone was able to come, it was quite an adventure.  The kids ranged in age from 3 to 13 years old.  The oldest being Megan and the youngest being Kaleb.

The kids seemed to have a great time together playing, and picking out their pumpkins.  Of the 7 kids that went, only 6 got pumpkins.  Here is the line up…..

from left to right

Layla (4, Aaron’s daughter), Kelly (7, Amy’s youngest), Sarah (12, Amy’s 2nd child), Katie (9, Amy’s third), McKenzie (6), McKaleb (3).

I also grabbed another pumpkin patch attender to get her to take a family photo of everyone who was there.  Thanks to the anonymous photographer.

Below are a few of my favorites….

Since we had so much fun, I am trying to plan another activity for December.  It must be cheap, since there are so many of us, and provide great photo opportunities.  Any suggestions?

Fight for Wyatt

Below is a little bit about Wyatt, the little man that had 2 minutes on earth, that God is going to allow to change hearts.

"We picked out the name Wyatt because we liked it's meaning... It means "Little Warrior". Little did we know at the time, but we picked a VERY appropriate name for our youngest son. Wyatt was diagnosed with a fatal condition just 18 weeks into our pregnancy with him. We were told there was little to no chance of seeing our son alive... We waited to meet him in love knowing the pregnancy was all we would get with him. Wyatt fought his way into the world against all odds, and breathed the same air as we did for 2 minutes. We are so proud of Wyatt, our little warrior... We love and miss him dearly. To read from the beginning of our journey, simply click here"

Here is the problem. Wyatt's parents called to get his birth certificate. The state of TN does not recognize his 2 minutes of life as a live birth. The Finchum family has started a petition to get the law changed so that no one else has to be told that there is not a birth certificate for their child, just a death certificate. Please click on the link on my sidebar to take you to their petition. It explains a much better what the language would need to be for a birth certificate to be issued for someone like Wyatt.

The family needs at least 1000 signatures to get this legislation change started. Signatures must be from Tennessee Residents. Please pass along the information to every resident you know so that they can decide to sign the petition for this change.

You can get more information on Wyatt's story and the progress towards the legislation change at http://wyattnathaniel.blogspot.com/.

Responsibility

Responsibility is such a hard thing to learn and teach.  I am working on teaching my little ones how to be responsible for their actions and that every thing that they do has a consequence, good or bad.  I am not sure how as a society we can teach our children responsibility when as a society we do not want to take responsibility for our actions. 

This thought comes to me as I have been trying to help someone at work.  I did not create the program that the person is in, nor did I create the problem, but I am trying to help this person to the best of my ability.  The person who created the program and who is the logical choice to make sure the people in this program are taken care of feels no responsibility in this area.  This person has created a burdensome program that does not fit the typical criteria and has left the customer dangling in the breeze to try and fend for themselves and maneuver through the bureaucratic red tape of many departments to achieve the desired result.  Now I am faced with trying to muddle through the mess she created and try to help the student (s) achieve their goals. 

I am almost tempted to request to be the point person in my office for these students and guide them through the process so that we do not have further snafus due to the vacancy of responsibility by the creator of the program.  Should I or should I not?  How responsible do I feel?  Is it even my problem?  Isn’t it my job to help the customer?  Isn’t it the program creator's job to help her customer?  All these thoughts are running through my head when I talked with the program creator.  I was told that if the student didn’t do things correctly, it wasn’t the problem of the program creator – never mind that there are no clear steps to follow.  So here I am trying to help my customer, who my job depends on, satisfy their wants, while muddling through the lack of structure myself.  Granted the program creator is probably getting the big bucks for the idea that once created is abandoned to let someone else figure out the details of how to pay to achieve the goal.  What to do, what to do?

And is it even my responsibility?  What do you think?  What would you do?