Wednesday, November 29, 2006

Abnormal

The morning started off with a temp. of 14 degrees F and strong north winds. I had a caramel apple for breakfast, this being only the second caramel apple I've had in my lifetime. And for breakfast! Then Dad left for his business trip to that liberal country of Denmark. When Mom left for work, we kids decided to get out the Christmas decorations and put them up. Then we started getting calls from United Airlines about Dad's flight being canceled, and that's still not cleared up. Hopefully it won't get to stressful for Dad. After lunch I stepped on a piece of glass and cut my foot. The boys thought the blood was nauseating. Now Jeremy is down for his nap and I am working on painting bits of broken china plates that I use for decorations. What a strange day!

Update: It turns out Dad didn't go to Denmark at all. All of today's flights to Chicago were full, and Dad decided it wasn't worth it to go for such a short time. Well! I know God has a good reason for this, but now I won't get any birthday presents from Denmark!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

An update on my life

It seems like I am going to spend my holiday week in public service:

1 I am babysitting twice this week for a very active family of four children, all under age six. Basically all they do is wrestle each other. I’ve never seen such active little girls before.

2 I am going to clean an already clean house for a rather old woman-she’s 90- who can’t hear.

3 I will probably have to clean house for guests, if we can get anyone to come over, and also dust off the guest room for Josh, with whom we are determined to spend quality time. We were going to attend the wedding of my cousin, but Mom said Josh needs TLC.

So that’s what our Thanksgiving looks like. I am also working on Operation SOUND’s Christmas boxes, our next GenJ meeting, and my job search. Life is busy!

This is a bad picture of Andrew; but do you notice anything strange about his face? While cutting up a paper craft at the table one day, he accidentally sliced off part of his eyebrow while scratching himself with the scissors. Boys!

 Posted by Picasa

This is what happens when you have an art teacher for a sister- you win the art contest. I'm so proud of him! Posted by Picasa

Thursday, November 9, 2006

Teddy Roosevelt

It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

– Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizenship in a Republic," speech at the Sorbonne, Paris (April 23, 1910)

Mr. Whalen's speech on Nov. 7th was centered on this quote.

Report

We left for the airport Friday morning, flew all day, and got to Cedar Rapids at dinner time. To get to Cedar Rapids, we had to fly to Chicago and switch flights. Isn’t that silly?
On our second day we went to our HQ, the Scott county Republican center, and were briefed on what we would be doing: Literature drops all day, phone calls at night. We didn’t get started until late that day, so I think we did more phone calls than anything. I would say that 40% of the people we called hung up on us; 40% we had to leave a message on the answering machine, and 20% listened to what we were saying. Going door to door, most people weren’t home, and if they were, they weren’t as mean to our faces as they were on the phone.
We had Sunday morning off and we all went to a local Baptist Church, which was fun. In the afternoon we did lit drops and phone calls. We were mostly campaigning for Jim Nussle for Governor and Mike Whalen for Congress. We got to meet both of those candidates and a few others. That was a lot of fun because they thanked us so profusely for what we were doing.
We worked hard on Monday. Jen was bitten by a loose dog while handing out literature- it wasn’t a bad bite, but she had to get a tetanus shot so her arm was sore. And she got a lot of attention after that.
Tuesday, we were kicked out of HQ by some Scott county volunteers who didn’t like us much, so we didn’t have to work as hard. We did about five hours of sign waving at big intersections during the morning and evening rush hours. Then that night at about 7pm we went to the victory party at one of Mr. Whalen’s restaurants. At about 10:00pm, Mr. Whalen gave his speech. It was one of the most inspirational speeches I've ever heard. Yes, we lost. And when you look at the nationwide election results, it looks like we really really lost. But I'm not worried about it. Mr. Whalen encouraged us to be in the political arena, to work hard, and to be leaders. And we will! It was an honor to work for such a godly man, and we are already looking forward to working in the 2008 elections.

Thursday, November 2, 2006

Off to Campaign

Jen and I are leaving tomorrow for our GenJ Student Action Team. I am still working and haven't had time to pack yet; We ladies have to pack more than just our toothbrushes, unlike some men. And we are having a guest for dinner. Life is hectic.
Yesterday Jeremy broke the tip of his finger and I missed it! I hate missing out on my family's life. Well, it's 20 degrees F here and I have to go get the car to start so I can get to work. I promise I will post as soon as I get home, on the 8th.