Corey is 9 now !!!!

My wonderful, funny, talented, smart, athletic, gifted, kind, loving, goofey, and handsome son is now 9 years old. Today is his birthday. He is my hero and I am very lucky to have had the last 9 years with him. I know as he grows, things change, Lord knows I have already discovered that. But I look forward to all the growth, changes, and wonder he will continue to bring to me and so many others!

Happy Birthday Corey Lee !!!!!

WOOOOOOOOO !!!!!!!!

Today I was informed that I am getting health insurance. It will cost a great deal, but will still be better than no insurance on Corey and I at all. I can not express how difficult it is as a single mother without insurance. You don't want your child to get sick or hurt ever. But without insurance it is even more frightening. You find yourself wanting to tell him no to certian activities to avoid getting hurt. Simply because you can not afford it. Not to mention my life long battle with my thyroid. Monthly labs and pills add up. And far too many times I have gone with out much needed medication because I had to choose food and rent over my health. That is no exaggeration. America's poor excuse of a health plan leaves so many of us in very very scary situations. So I am thankful, so very thankful, for this insurance coverage.

Day Trip

On Friday, after the swim meet, John, Corey, and I decided that we were hungry for Chineese Food. So we rushed home, cleaned up, and rushed to the airport just in time to hop on the plane to Portland. We stopped for a photo op infront of enigine 1 on the Brasilia (a small plane that I am starting to get used to.) We took our time through PDX (Portland Airport) while Corey and John played on the moving walkway. We then took the Light Rail to downtown and walked a few blocks to the all amazing PF Changs. My nose found it before all set of eyes did.
The food was great. Corey even ate and loved the Chang Ribs. (Pork) He ate a ton of garlic noodles and sweet and sour chicken. Then we walked around downtown and headed back to PDX. We played at the airport, John and Corey racing the wrong way up the moving walkway. We had icecream and played jokes on eachother. We flew back late in the eve and I fell in love with the flight crew as it was the smoothest flight I have had on a small plane.
It was a nice day. It was unplanned and free of obligations and restrictions. We all had fun. It was nice to just be. We had a full but relaxing day and it never involved tv or movies. It was active and carefree. I loved Friday.

What America is all about

America is about freedom.
The freedom to live anywhere you want. The freedom to religion or not. The freedom to choose your life's path. The freedom to love who you want. The freedom to speak your mind, heart, and soul. The freedom to change your mind. The freedom to disagree. The freedom to say no. The freedom to learn. The freedom to leave. The freedom to be who you are.
For all this country's faults (govenment being the #1 flaw), we are beyond lucky to live here. In far too many other countries things would be as follows.
I would not know how to read or write.
I would be killed for disagreeing with my dad or John.
My mother would be a broken spirit.
My son would be a night walker or at war or working in a sweat shop rather than playing in the morning sun.
My god daughter and neice would be sold for money or labor.
My closest friends and I would be property.
I and D would be dishonered and shunned for being unwed mothers. Infact, in some places we would be killed for it.
My teenage "god daughter" K would be lucky if she was not already raped and inslaved.
We would be hungry. We would be scared. We would be ignored by the world. We would be lost.
Yes. We are the lucky ones, no matter how hard it gets to put food on the table, to drive through traffic, to work a 10 hour day, and pay extream gas prices. For as mundane as that all sounds, we, especially we women, would not have any of that.
I am thankful for being born into and for living in this great country. And the great thing is, because you live here too, you can disagree with that!!!!!!
Happy 4th of July!!!