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?

Twilight

Hearing that most of the population has read the Twilight series, I have decided to see what all the fuss was about. I found Twilight at the library and checked it out. I started in on a Sunday afternoon. I was amazed. I could not put it down. I finished it on Monday and proceeded to order the others from the library. I was counting the days until the others were available. I read New Moon on Friday and Eclipse on Saturday. Now I am chewing my nails waiting for Breaking Dawn to be ready. I was going to wait until it was available from the library, but once my cousin told me that she had it…..I am thinking that I might need to make a mid week run to her house to get it.

FYI – If you liked the series, I noticed that www.thecutestblogontheblock.com has a Breaking Dawn 3 column background template for free! Maybe I will update the blog with a Twilight theme next.

My friend Meghann has graciously offered to let me borrow her copy of the movie. After reading the first 3 books, I am not sure how I am going to like the movie. I am especially concerned because the people that they have chosen to cast the roles of the Cullen family do not bear any resemblance to the character descriptions in the book. Emmett is supposed to be at least 6 inches taller than Edward and muscular like a grizzly bear. The guy I have seen in the red carpet photos is the same height. One of the other student’s in my office assures me that I will like it and it will be ok, but she did admit that she didn’t read the book first. Her friend that did read the book first was not satisfied with cast selection either. Oh well! I will wait to see the movie before I make my final decision, but I am not hopeful at this point. I am going to watch it this weekend and hopefully the special effects team will come through.

What have we been up to?

We have been so busy and things are getting busier. This weekend I actually pulled my camera out and took some pictures of our activities. I love sunny days as it is easier to take good pictures on those days.

On Friday night, I had reserved 2 of the Jonas Brother dogs at the Jonas Build-a-bear party. The kids each got a dog with a necklace and an exclusive Jonas shout out, a Jonas 8x10 and a Jonas wristband to signify that they were part of the party.




Kenzie cheesing it up for the event. She looked to see if Kevin, Nick and Joe were there.




Family photo op. Kenz is not happy. Maybe she realized that the Jo Bros were not there.



A rare photo of Papaw and Nanny. Especially rare since they both are smiling with their eyes opened.



Pump up the dog.



Little man, you have to step on it a little harder than that!



Lets give these dogs strong hearts!




Clean that dirty dog, sis!



A boy taking his work seriously. He scrubbed every part of that dog!



Swimming in the tub.



Check out my mad computer skills!


Saturday we visited home improvement stores with my dad. I think the kids were bored, but I had fun. Darlene did a good job entertaining them on that rainy day. We went to the mall for lunch and when we left, there was a river running right by the driver's side door of my Escape. I stood on my tiptoes (in flip flops) and still got 4 inches of my jeans wet. We stopped by mom's to dry those.

Sunday was off to church and to Pee Paws. Below are a few pics of the gang that showed up. We had a great time. All the great-grandkids were there and they really enjoyed playing with each other.



Sarah - taking time to pose for the camera.




Meanness just shining through with these two. How she got him to wait on her hand and foot, I'll never know. I can't get him to do that. Maybe I'll get some pointers from her.



Megan giving a smile. I meant to get one of her and her boyfriend John. He avoided the camera though.



Katie giving a beautiful smile. She photographs well.



Look at the joy on Kenzie's face as she swings her cousin/sister. They have such a great time together.

After that it was off for some shopping before Awana. Fortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for at the store, so I was spared from spending too much money. Can't seem to find the right pair of boots. Oh well. Guess I'll have to keep looking.

Hope you have a great day and maybe I'll update again soon!

McKenzie Sings at the Fair

I haven't posted in so long. Not that we haven't been busy, but I have forgotten to take any pictures of the stuff we have been doing. We have been hanging out with friends, getting ready for the Duck Duck Goose consignment sale (which ends today by the way), going to church, gymnastics, girl scouts, dealing with illnesses (which reminds me that I need to call the dr. again!).

So for some good news - McKenzie joined girl scouts this past week. She really enjoyed her first meeting. They had their first activity on Saturday. The girls went to the fair to earn their Jasper patch. They got to participate in different activities in order to get the patch. McKenzie got to milk a cow (not a live one), go through the petting zoo and a scarecrow scavenger hunt.

During the lunch break she saw the Big Mama's Karaoke Cafe stage set up. She begged Luke to let her sing. She sang Hannah Montana's Best of Both Worlds on the stage at the fair! That girl has no fear! Below is the video that Luke took. Enjoy my little pop star in the making!

Prayer Request

I don't usually post prayer requests on such a public forum, but I feel the need to share with you some news I learned the other day. A girl that I went to high school with and see frequently (as she is one of lab techs at the pediatrician's office) has a very sick child.

Earlier this week she had one of our doctors check out her child and the doctor sent her to Childrens. Childrens ran some tests and determined that the child has cancer. They are sending my friend and her child to a specialty hospital for more testing next week.

As I have not discussed this post with her, I have withheld her name, but God knows her name and all the details of her situation. Please pray that He will hold them close during this time of such uncertainty. I can't even imagine the fear and pain that she and her child are going through.

Thank you for praying for her.

Third day of 1st grade - Otherwise know as McKenzie's first day of 1st grade

This week has been a little traumatic to say the least. McKenzie came down with a virus on Sunday. It caused her to run a high fever that prevented her from going to school on the first two days. After visiting the doctor to find out that it was indeed a virus, he indicated that she should stay out of school until the fever was gone. Kenzie really wanted to stay out as long as possible, but today she woke with no fever and since she hadn't had one since the night before, it was off to school for her first day of first grade. (Anyone else singing that song from the VeggieTales movie Jonah?)

Anyway, here are some pictures of my girl on her first day. Imagine my surprise when she didn't want to wear pink. A shocker to be sure.













After meeting her teacher on Thursday night, her only question was if Ms. Vivan could call school off on August 28th so that Kenzie could go see "The Wizards of Waverly Place - The Movie." I told her that Ms. Vivian could not call school off for that and reminded her that the movie was going to be on Disney Channel that night so she wouldn't miss it because of school. Such a funny girl!

I almost cried dropping her off this morning. I did walk her to the classroom since it had been a week since we visited the school to meet her teacher. She was fine when I left her. I can't wait to hear all about it this afternoon. She is a big girl now and I am definitely not ready for it.

Have a great Wednesday!