PROP H8TE

I see these signs all over town. I get emails about it. I see constant commercials about it. I am drowning in Prop 8 Propaganda.

So what is PROP H8TE? A clever reference to a proposition (Prop 8) that we have to vote on in California next week. Let me sum it up for you: Do we say marriage is between 1 man and 1 woman, or do we allow homosexual marriage?

Voting Yes on Prop 8 = Marriage remains between man and woman
Voting No on Prop 8 = Same Sex Marriage is acceptable by law.

This past summer we went to EPCOT and at the American Pavilion there was a reading of 'The Declaration of Independence" that began with "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. "

My immediate thoughts went to the homosexuality community.I understand wanting/desiring equality. I understand loving someone and wanting that love to be accepted by those around you. I understand and believe in the difference between church and state.

I have put a LOT of thought into this decision. It's fair to say that at one point, I was torn. And if they had a voting poll right after I heard the Declaration of Independence being read, I would have voted No on 8 immediately. Mainly because in spite of what I believe, the church is the church and the state is the state. However, as a follower of Christ, and according to the Bible and it's teachings, I need to vote according to what falls in line with scripture. People that are against homosexuality are always quick to point out Scripture references that denounce the lifestyle. I don't want to do that. I just want to share the reason that I am convicted to vote Yes on Prop 8.

In the Bible, marriage compares Christ as the bridegroom and the church as his bride in Ephesians 5:25-32. It is the one true, everlasting marriage covenant.

Ephesians 5:25-32
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church.


This is the image of marriage that the Bible describes and what I believe Christ asks his followers to uphold. It is between a husband and a wife. The Bridegroom and his Bride. Christ and the Church.

It is popular decision? No. Does the world disagree with me? Yes. Do many of my friends disagree with me? DEFINITELY yes. Does it put me in an awkward position with my gay friends, or friends of mine with gay family members? YES! Does it mean that I HATE? No. I don't hate. See...I love people. I love them so much it hurts sometimes. But I love God more. So that may make me unpopular, but Christ himself said "If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you." John 15:18-19


I have spent a lot of time "belonging" to the world. And it has taken me further away from Christ. I am a sinner. I mess up a LOT. But voting on Prop 8 is a conscious decision. One that I have had time to research, think about, and even pray about. There are many reasons why I am voting Yes on 8. But most of all, because I want to make a decision that does not contradict my Christian beliefs.

So there it is...my opinion. I know that people will hate me for it. But to me, that means I am doing something right. I am taking a step out of the world and putting my feet back where they belong.

My kids talk like me...

...and sometimes it makes me laugh.

Haley just walked in and said, "Mom - I'm gonna "rock" my boots today. Have you seen them?"

That sounds really funny coming out of a four year old.

Question & Answer Time.

I have a question for you bloggers...why do my pictures on my blog look so tiny? Seriously...it's like when you see cars from the top of the Empire State Building. They look like little itsy bitsy ants.

So if you can help me with that question....I will tell you the answer to what so many of you have asked me.

How do you find your stats????

ANSWER: Look up Blogger Analytics. It will help you find your stats. But I'm not very computer savvy (obviously), so you might have to contact Heidi at www.lifeasagoble.blogspot.com for your IT needs. She's very in the know and helped me set my analytics up long ago.

UNWRAPPED

Does anyone else watch this show? And when you do, do (yes...I said do do), ahem, back to my question..do you crave the food that Marc Summers talks about? Cause I want Pizza Hut Pizza right now...and I just had dinner an hour ago. And after the commercial break, he's talking about PIE! The sweet kind! Sigh. I should change the channel.

The crowd roars...

Okay...the crowd is just me. But seriously, it humbles me that anyone is curious at what I might have to say. So I pause and thank all of you for reading.

I get some stats about my blog and find it so interesting. If you are a stalker, don't worry - it doesn't tell me who you are, just what city you are in. But please don't let that stop you from reading... I just wanted to highlight a few of those readers...

To the TOP 3 states that read my blog.. The award goes to...

1. California
2. Oregon
3. Arizona.

Can I get a Whoop Whoop?

To the TOP 3 states that read my blog and as far as I know, I have no friends or family that live there. The award goes to...

1. Alabama
2. Maryland
3.Connecticut

- If you live in those states, I'd love to know who you are!!!!

To the TOP 3 countries that read my blog (besides the U.S.) Please...give it up for....

1. Canada
2. Turkey
3. UK

Seriously - Turkey? Who knew. Apparently I am big there! Please, if you are Turkish, and you read this...out yourself. I'd love to have a Turkish friend! For that matter - a Canadian or English friend would be fun too...

To my friend's blog who gave me the most referrals this month (meaning, more people came to my site from hers than any other's)... a round of applause for...

1. BRAZENLILLY.BLOGSPOT.COM

Raise the roof for Jen! :o)

And to the topic that was researched the most on google that led people to one of my posts...please give some credit where credit is due to...

1. NYLONS.

Farm Day.

Yesterday I took the girls to a nearby farm. I wanted the girls to experience an authentic pumpkin patch....you know, the kind that has pumpkins growing from the ground, instead of dropped off by some truck that probably got them from Albertsons to begin with.

Since Curtis was sick, we called MaMaw Lyn who just happened to be watching Baby Emily, and they joined us.

Here are some pics of the day....

Lexi walking through the Hay Maze.

We were riding the wagon around the farm to the petting zoo.

The petting zoo started out pretty tame...

But once the goats got word that we had food....they got a bit more aggressive. Haley had to keep the food above her head to keep from being attacked.


Hello friend.

I think Lexi was having a conversation with these little guys.

My attempt to take a pic of the cousins didn't go so well...


Despite her frown, Haley told us this was her favorite part of the day...

Lexi was quite a driver...

Of course, we had to have a treat...

Poor Emily. It's hard to be little. You don't get the good stuff.

On our wagon ride back to the pumpkin/veggie patch, they stopped and shot a pumpkin out of a cannon. It was awesome!

We got to pick a few veggies...as you can tell by her leap across the crop, Haley was very excited!

Picking Carrots.

Filling the bag with beans.

Look Mommy - I gots Onions.

I'll take this one Mommy....

And one more for the road....

Picture of the Day.

"I wanna touch his bottom Mommy."

Uh...yeah, that's NOT his bottom Lexi.

Dear Mom...

Don't worry.... Auntie Kristi took REALLY good care of me yesterday. She couldn't find my bottle of milk. so she gave me something else to drink and then we ate popcorn and watched The Matrix I, II, & III. I love staying at her house. When can I come back?

Food Review: Luigi's

This will only matter if you live in or around HB. Curtis and I had baby Emily today (my niece) and we wanted to go downtown and have lunch. The only rule? Try something new.

So we walked around. And around. What was new was not exactly what we wanted. But we opted for Luigi's. And I will make this short and relatively sweet in case the owner happens to read my blog.

The food was good but overpriced.

And, I've never been to an Italian restaurant where they didn't serve you bread first. Hello? This is why I GO to Italian restaurants.

So my thoughts? Serve bread and make the lunch menu less expensive. For the money I spent on my lunch, I could have had salad, bread, and the entree for the same price at the OG. (Olive Garden)

These are just my thoughts. They are here to help you diners out there make informative decisions.

Ciao.

I am a Genius.

After an hour of research, I figured out how to fix the comments portion of my blog. Please leave comments again.

In other news, I am not a genius. It took me 4 different tries to figure out how to spell the word "genius" correctly.

Embarrassing.

Banned from Comments?

What the H is going on? No one can leave me comments. And the emails are pouring in from my loyal fans who are dying to leave comments and are unable to. Okay...that is a slight exaggeration. It has only been 100 or so of you who have emailed.

So seriously....has anyone had this problem before? I don't know what to do.

Memory Lane for Jen Bunch.

I saw this and thought of you... Reunion tour?

Haley's PJ's.

This is apparently the new PJ look for preschoolers...





At least Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers are not involved.

Fish. Beach. Good.

Today, we got up and went to the Long Beach Aquarium. It was a perfect day. The weather was amazing. I had FREE tickets to the Aquarium, which was Field-Trip free and practically empty. The girls and I had a wonderful time exploring.

We were fortunate to catch several of the interactive presentations where the divers inside the tanks spoke to us and told us what they were doing. Lexi was very concerned for some reason that the "persons" (her name for the divers) were going to take her sunglasses. So anytime we saw the "persons", she would hide her sunglasses. Note her standoffishness...

My favorite part of the day was touching the Sting Rays...The girls liked it too.



The girls wanted to feed the birds in the Bird Sanctuary. I love the way Haley instinctively understands animals. She gently put her hand on the fence, inviting the bird to walk on her arm and eat the nectar.

Lexi took a different approach.

After the Birds, the girls played in the park.


Feeling inspired by the aquarium, I pulled over and decided to spend some time at the beach on our way home. The girls and I played in the ocean for awhile. It was a messy, fun, happy time.








A perfect day.

Only 1 Ya.

7 years ago, I met a guy named Jd who had a girlfriend named Celeste. We weren't too sure of each other at first. Our personalities are quite different. Jd & Celeste got married. And we got over our differences and began to appreciate the beauty in them.

One night over cupcakes (that I happened to be carrying in my purse) in a bar at a casino in Las Vegas - Celeste, myself, and our friend Kathi shared our deepest, darkest secrets and swore over trans-fatty chocolate that we would always be Ya-Yas. (We had just seen the movie.)

Our friendships deepened, though we would soon find ourselves in different states. I moved to California, Kathi moved to South Dakota, and Celeste stayed in Vegas (for awhile at least.) We lost Kathi a year later in a car accident. It was by far the single most horrible thing that has ever happened in my life. That leaves me with one Ya.

Celeste now lives in California. We don't talk every day. We don't have to. When we see each other, it's as if no time has passed. She is just one of those people (and I have several) that reminds me of what a true friend should be. She's so honest, so giving, so caring, so loving. And as I type this, I am in tears because I just love her so deeply.

I read on her blog about the wonderful zucchini bread she was making and left her a comment about making some for my birthday (I was half-joking.) Next thing I knew, she and her hubby and son Colin were on their way down to HB to spend the day celebrating my Birthday with Zucchini bread in hand! We had lunch at Cheesecake Factory, saw a movie (Secret Life of Bees - which was AMAZING), and then had dinner with my family. It could not have been more perfect.

Here are some pictures of our perfect day....


Kids at Lunch.


I don't know what is happening here...


Colin fighting back with his Mr.Miagi moves....

JD & Celeste

Haley, Lexi, Colin, and Cousin Emily at my Birthday Dinner.

ThAt WaS ChUrCh.

Today is my Birthday and I went to church. I was excited to see my friends Matt and Christie there and sitting with them made it even better.

The first song started (Blessed Be Your Name)...and I shut my eyes and began to sing. I felt someone slide in beside me and opened my eyes and was surprised to see my sister, her hubby, and baby Emily beside me.

Then I got to hold Emily.

Then we got to the chorus of the song, and my sweet tattooed, Jr. High Pastor friend Matt, lifted his hands in the air, singing at the top of his lungs, "Blessed be the name of the Lord, Blessed be Your name." This is a man that has become a part of my family...he and Christie come to our house, we laugh, we hang, we vacation together, we do life together. But to sit next to him and watch him worship. It moved me.

That moment, coupled with me holding my niece Emily, sitting in between my precious friends and family, was the sweetest Birthday gift I could have received. I felt so complete. I felt so much love. And I was moved to tears.

The night went on, and we heard the testimonies (stories) of 4 different people in our church that moved me in such a powerful way. The message was on "Community," and then my community (my circle of friends)...ate dinner with me downstairs. We talked, we laughed, we ate, we shared.

To me, that was church. And it was good.

VEGAS 3

FEEL THE LOVE...

Vegas Part II

Before Dinner...

After Dinner...

Please note the GIANT leaf stuck in my tooth. I'm so freakin' HOT!

What Happens in Vegas...

Doesn't stay in Vegas...when this guy in the left hand corner films your "act" and puts it on youtube.


Okay....maybe he didn't put it on youtube...but he did video it with his camera phone, and that was creepy enough.

More pics to come.