"[W]hereas, to preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms, and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them; nor does it follow from this, that all promiscuously must go into actual service on every occasion.

-- Federal Farmer (Antifederalist Letter, No.18, 25 January 1778)

The movie everyone should see

Last weekend I went to see the movie "Fireproof" with a few other kids from church. The church kids wanted to see it on opening day, but we had a wedding Fri. evening, so we all gathered the next afternoon tired and groggy from staying up late the night before. "Fireproof" is a great movie about marriage and matters of the heart, and I encourage you all to see it. No, I order you all to see it! It's probably the best movie that will come out all year. Some people say that the lack of professional filming and effects bothers them, but I thought it was very well done in that aspect.

After the movie my siblings and I went out to dinner with a girlfriend and her brother(we were a little worried about having to talk to a boy we didn't know, gasp, but it turned out alright) and all in all it was a very sociable weekend. I felt like I spent more time in the car driving than in my bed sleeping- we were talking at the dinner table one night about how we really do live in Omaha, we just don't have a house there. Sigh.

Someone is coming to look at our house today. I am not expecting them to be really interested in buying, so the main good reason this is happening is that the whole house gets cleaned.

Lost

I came home from Lincoln on Friday. On my way home I wanted to make a stop at Cane's, a fast food restaurant known for its deliciously unhealthy chicken fingers. I wanted to take some home to Jen because she loves their food. As far as I know, there aren't any Cane's in Omaha and only one in Lincoln. But on my way to Cane's, I got very very turned around(LOST). Before last week, I hadn't done any driving in Lincoln at all, but now I know almost all the major streets and areas, because in the week I was there I got lost three times. When I finally got to Cane's, I had no idea how to get to the interstate, so I just headed in what I thought to be the right direction, and I eventually got to the right street. But I felt so bad about all the gas I wasted getting lost- it almost made stopping at Cane's not worth it. With that added driving time, the drive home took almost two hours. I was so tired I had to stop, so I decided to stop at a cemetery on the way. It's been on my list of goals for a while to stop and visit that cemetery before we move, so I am glad I finally went there.

It was kind of sad that the cemetery isn't being properly taken care of- there were several stones that were broken or sinking, and in one case the caretakers had just stuck the broken stone in a pile of concrete.

This cemetery is mostly German.

Who do you look to when you are lost?

Out and About in the City

I've spent the past week in our Nebraska Capitol city of Lincoln helping out a pregnant lady. She has five very sweet children, and her condition is such that she can't do any hard work. Yesterday she had me get out the kids winter clothes from the basement, and carry them upstairs to the bedrooms- it took about four trips up and down! When that was done, I got down three garbage bags of clothes from the top shelf of the closet, and then had to put them back up at the end of the day. I had to stand on a bar stool to reach! So I actually got my exercise yesterday. Today I just cleaned wooden blinds- there's really no efficient way to do that.

I've been staying with another friend at night. I have so enjoyed having a whole huge bathroom all to myself. It's so luxurious! In return for room and board I've been doing some work for her, too. When I get back tonight she wants me to get out her winter clothes too. At least I won't have to carry them up two staircases- she only has one.

I've been doing a lot more driving in the city than I've ever done before, and I doesn't stress me out anymore, but I've gotten lost twice. Navigation by street names rather than by landmarks is hard to get used to.

Had anyone (besides Alaskans) heard of Sarah Palin before two weeks ago? I didn't think so.

Well, we are now officially over, forever and for all time, with the chicken pox. The last two siblings have had it and are now recovered, and I am thrilled. It takes two weeks to get the chicken pox after you've been exposed, so for our three boys to get it took five weeks in all. Five weeks of being quarantined is quite enough.

This fall marks the fourth anniversary of our family business. We all are hoping it sells sometime this fall- we can't move until it sells. I was kind of sad when we bought it, and I'll be kind of sad when we sell it.

I'm done tutoring, since my pupil has gone back to school, and now Jen and I are gearing up for campaign work this fall. It's going to be a lot of fun! You can read about our candidate here.