Weekly Update

I'm not great with words, nor am I very political, but I have to speak about how I'm feeling today. I'm afraid my words are insufficient, so let me borrow words from a man who died not that long ago for his beliefs that we are all equal and that we are all deserving of equality.

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.'"

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

"I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at a table of brotherhood."

"Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

Do I think that all our work is done? No, most clearly it is not, but I do think that it would be wrong to allow the day to pass without expressing how important this day is for my family.

A man with skin the same color as my precious baby girl is leading our country.

Barack Obama is not only a black man. I don't think that the people of the United States elected him because he is black. I would hate to make it all about race, because it isn't.

It is important though. My daughter, who doesn't have a disney princess that mirrors her, can look at the head of our country and see two beautiful little girls that look just like her. No matter who won the election, L was going to grow up knowing that she can do whatever she sets her mind to, but what a glorious thing that she'll never remember a time before this. Just as I don't remember a time when there would have been a law barring our family from forming, or segregated schools (but my parents do), she will not remember a time before the first black president. What a glorious thing for her to experience.

I don't pretend to be an expert in race issues. I know that I didn't have a clue before L came to be my daughter (though I really really thought I did). I also know that there is a long long way to go. We see a little overt racism in our everyday experience, but mostly we see the little tiny subtle things all around us (for example, go to the toy aisle and check out the little people. notice the jobs that each of the little people of color have. strange, isn't it?). I don't think that racism will ever be completely destroyed, but imagining where we've been it gives me tremendous hope for where we're going.

I'm also deeply moved about how the country seems to be so united by Obama. He's so inspiring to so many people and regardless of how the next 4 years go, and regardless of whether or not he lives up to all our expectations, we are all so excited and buzzing right now. I've heard of so many people recording this so they could watch it when they get home from work. When's the last time anybody did that? I think we're all ready for some kind of change. At this point I think we're all just putting some hope in Obama that he can help steer us in the right direction.

So, I know it's not about race. It's about this inspiring man who has united the entire country in a way that nobody has for a long long long time, and that man just so happens to be black. We hear so often on the news about how terrible everything is. I'm just so thankful to sit back and think about what great news all of this is.

So that was my very poor way of trying to say how I feel about today's events. I'm sad I'm not down on the mall right now freezing my tail off and snapping photos for my scrapbook.

and now... onto the weekly update!

It hasn't really been a very exciting week. We've gotten lots of random photos though.

We met with our playgroup at a local mall to get the kids out of the house. L loves the play area there and had a great time.





We also took a few random ones just around the house.





yogurt face (excuse the bed-head):



Kissy, kissy:









L is obsessed with her belly button. She just seems to remember it every once in a while and then has to check it out and make sure it's still doing okay.



We also got our first snow this week. It melted in about 30 minutes, but it was there! L played by the window all day watching it come down. It was too cute.

A peculiar little half smile:



Pointing at the snow:





L is little miss imitate lately. Last night we picked up a kitchen for her to have to play with and she wanted to help her daddy put it together. It was very cute.





... and that's it! Thanks for hanging in there and we'll see you next week!