With tomorrow being the celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr. day, I know that for our kids, and us who have government jobs, it's a day off. But for me, and I hope for many others, it's more than just a day off. Martin Luther King, Jr. stood for so many things that I feel if many more people would embrace, this world would be a better place. Mr. King was a Christian who believed that God created black people and white people equally. All people, regardless of color, were made "in the image and likeness of God". Because of his Christian beliefs, he worked towards equality by organising non-violent protests. He believed that it was never right to use violence, because violence does not express the love of God, it expresses hatred. Like I said, if more people would embrace these beliefs, this world would be a better place. Obviously, Martin Luther King, Jr. is most remembered for his "I have a dream" speech. And what a wonderful speech that was. I have included it below because I feel it is important for all Americans to know this speech. Each time I read it, it brings tears to my eyes. What an amazing, brilliant man he was. And what a shame it is that he was taken from this world way to soon. Imagine the difference he would have made had he lived to an old age. I just can't imagine, but I would have loved to have been a part of the differences he did make while he was here.
delivered 28 August 1963, at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington D.C
"I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.
Five score years ago, a great American, in whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the Emancipation Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their captivity.
But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still languishing in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his own land. So we have come here today to dramatize a shameful condition.
In a sense we have come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men as well as white men, would be guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this nation. So we have come to cash this check — a check that will give us upon demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to this hallowed spot to remind America of the fierce urgency of now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the time to lift our nation from the quick sands of racial injustice to the solid rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's children.
It would be fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning. Those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns to business as usual. There will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice emerges.
But there is something that I must say to my people who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice. In the process of gaining our rightful place we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.
We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with soul force. The marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied up with our destiny. They have come to realize that their freedom is inextricably bound to our freedom. We cannot walk alone.
As we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police brutality. We can never be satisfied, as long as our bodies, heavy with the fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the hotels of the cities. We cannot be satisfied as long as the Negro's basic mobility is from a smaller ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are stripped of their selfhood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating "For Whites Only". We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.
I am not unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations. Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. Some of you have come from areas where your quest for freedom left you battered by the storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that unearned suffering is redemptive.
Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama, go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair.
I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream.
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 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 the table of brotherhood.
I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.
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 today.
I have a dream that one day, down in Alabama, with its vicious racists, with its governor having his lips dripping with the words of interposition and nullification; one day right there in Alabama, little black boys and black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.
I have a dream today.
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.
This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to 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!"
So I will admit that I love the Fisher Price Little People. And I love Sesame Street. And Reid loves both, so I couldn't be more tickled by that. For his second birthday, we are planning a Sesame Street Party. And as I was searching for party ideas I came across a vintage set of Sesame Street Little People. Of course, they are no longer available to purchase, except on EBAY. I don't think there is anything in that exists that you can't find on EBAY. But anyways, I want these so much for Reid (and maybe a little for me too, haha). They're so cute and so vintage (which is another thing I love) and when Reid saw me looking at them on the computer, he got all excited and did his little "Ooooo" in his high voice and then pointed at Cookie Monster and said "Cookie". See, he does want them. And, well, that just makes me want them more. Funny that at the age of 30 something, I still want to buy toys.
Well, we made it home from our trip at one-ish Sunday morning. After the horrible trip home, and the week away, I had completely forgotten about what the house looked like when we left. I wish I would have taken a photo of what it looked like when we came home (but since my good camera died, I didn’t even think to grab the old one). I have the photo of after we opened gifts Christmas morning, but multiply that by all the gifts that come home for all of us from my dad’s house, and just tossed wherever we could find a place. So when I walked in and saw it like that, I could have just cried. We were all exhausted and cranky after that long ride and although I am extremely grateful for all the wonderful gifts we received, I would have given anything for my fairy godmother to have waived her magic wand and said Bibbity Bobbity Boo and all the gifts were neatly tucked away in their appropriate places. Unfortunately, no such luck. The next morning we got up, and came downstairs. It was so funny when Reid walked down the stairs and said “Ooooo” in his high pitched squeal of delight. It was like Christmas morning when he saw all the gifts. Needless to say, there wasn’t a peep heard from him all day while he was playing with his new toys. Rod & I spend the day cleaning up the mess and dodging Nerf gun bullets (thank you Gauge). So to end the day, I was coming up from the basement with dinner in my hand, tripped, and fell down the stairs. Of course I tried to catch myself and landed on my wrist and left side. What a dummy move. That was my New Years gift to myself.
Monday and Tuesday I, of course, had the hardest time walking around. I was so sore and considering my RA was already flared up when I fell, it was about a million times worse now. I looked like the biggest gimp hobbling around all over the office.
Tuesday, Rod called me on his way home from picking up Reid to tell me that Reid has spots on him that looked like chicken pox. Oh wonderful I thought. So I called the doctor and made him an appointment. That evening, while feeling like I had been hit by a train, I was getting dinner ready, and while the convection over was running, it got really bright inside, made this loud pop noise, and shut off. And that was it. It wouldn’t turn back on. It wouldn’t do anything. I just looked at it and thought, you have got to be kidding me. After dinner, I went in to the laptop to work on some photos that I need to get edited. I spent about an hour working on them and then all of a sudden, the screen went black. I wasn’t sure what was going on, but I was completely irritated. I sat there for a few minutes, and when nothing happened, I shut it off and then turned it back on. And all that was there was the same black screen. Then I started to panic. And then I flipped out.
Wednesday morning, I took Reid to the doctor. As soon as we got there, he knew where we were. He kept pointing at the front door and saying “Buh-bye?”. He hates the doctor’s office for some reason. We went back into the examination room and as I was getting him undressed, he flipped out. He must have a great memory, because the only thing Rod or I can think of is he remembers getting his shots. The doctor came in and looked at Reid’s spots. No it isn’t chicken pox, but it’s a staff infection. All that kept running through my head was all the public places we were in the past week or so and all the gross germs that crawl around in all those public places. Yuck! But the doctor did tell me that some people just get staff infections on their skin from time to time without a real reason for it. So we picked up his prescription and hopefully he will be on the mend shortly.
When I got up earlier Wednesday morning, I again tried to start up the computer, with no luck. I called my friend Jane (aka my computer guru) and left her a message to see if she could help us. That evening she walked Rod through trying some different trials to see if anything would work. Unfortunately, it didn't. I just had a bad feeling. But, I didn't want to flip out again, so I took a deep breath, and told myself, if it's a gonner, it's a gonner, and not amount of throwing a temper tantrum was going to help (and I wonder why my children throw fits...ha!). So at this point, it looked like data recovery was the only thing left to try. So that's what the plan is for the weekend. I have so much information on that computer, a lot of it backed up, and a lot of it not backed up. Dumb, I know. Maybe one of my New Year's resolutions should have been to not do so many dumb things!
Needless to say, I was not sad to see this week come and go. Next week has to be better, right?!?
1. "Geega" - Guido the dog & now he calls all dogs Geega 2. "Gaaag" with a long “a” sound - Gauge 3. "key cat" - kitty cat 4. "eyes" 5. “big" - big bird and any vehicle that is larger than a car 6. "beeesh" - fish 7. "Vroom, vroom" - motorcycle 8. "cuppy" - cup 9. "happy, happy, happy" over and over when he gets excited about something 10. and last but not least "Bubba Booey" – He repeats Rod’s text message tone, which says Babba Booey
It’s Sunday night, and I’m DREADING tomorrow. Rod has been off work for 16 days. Gauge has been off school for 16 days. Reid has not been to a sitter for 16 days. I have not been at work for 11 days. Who can blame me for dreading tomorrow??? Rod is soooo not a morning person, and I have to admit, the time that we spend with his family ALWAYS brings up the stories of when his mom & Tim had to jump up and down on him to wake him in the morning, which I think are too funny, especially since not much has changed. I usually have to wake him up two times before he gets us and if there is a third time I have to climb the stairs to wake him, I’m usually completely irritated by then. Reid kind of goes with the flow. I drag him out of bed and off to the sitter’s, but he isn’t much of a morning person either. Gauge usually tries to talk to him in the morning and Reid usually growls back (like father, like son). You’d think Gauge would learn. I can adjust to pretty much anything. I don’t require much sleep, but I will require much patience tomorrow morning. Usually the entire month of January will be spent fighting with Gauge every morning…and the first day back is ALWAYS the worst. He already started the “I don’t wanna go back to school tomorrow.” Sometimes I want to just look at him and say “DUH! I don’t wanna go back to work tomorrow, at least you have recess.” But I just grinned at him and said, “I know you don’t, but just think of all your friends you haven’t seen.” That satisfied him…for now. That novelty will wear off by hmmm….tomorrow? Maybe Tuesday, if I’m lucky. I seriously don’t remember getting that much time off from school when I was little, but I’m sure we did. And the more amount of time Gauge has off, the worse it is. August and January are my most hated months of the year. And the first days back to school in both months are my most hated days of the year. Any transition for Gauge is hard and back to school is the worst. I wish it wasn’t so hard for him, and me. I’m sure there will be tears this week in the morning, and tears this week at homework time, but I’m not sure who will be crying harder…me or him. Tomorrow will be brutal in the Jordan household. Wish us luck.
I don’t really remember any other resolutions or goals that I had last year other than starting this blog, and getting pregnant again, Well, one of the two happened, and I’ll add the other to this years list of resolutions and goals.
So for now, here are my personal resolutions and goals aka My 10 for 2010…
1. Project 365 It's simply a photo a day for a year to document the details of life. 2. To be a better wife, mother, and friend. Wife: Rod & I don’t get to spend a lot of time together, and when we do get some alone time, it seems that we just use it to get caught up on things we aren’t able to do when the kids are around. So I am resolving to have (at least) a once a month date night. Rod is the best husband I could ask for, and it’s time I show him that more often. Mother: I sometimes think that I am the worst mother in the world (don’t we all?). And although I know I’m not the worst mother, there are many areas I could improve on. Friend: It doesn’t take much to be a better friend, so I just need to take some time out to do some thoughtful things for my friends. 3. To blog more frequently. I started this blog as a way to journal about our family, from my point of view, so I need to put it to use more often. I plan to get it bound into book form for each year. 4. To become more organized. This is my good intentions, bad follow through department. And also something that absolutely drives me nuts about myself. I plan things out thoroughly and then don’t follow through. Dumb, I know. It just makes things flow better if things are planned out, organized, and followed through. I mean something as simple as our morning routine goes much smoother when I plan it all out and follow through with getting things organized the night before. 5. To lose some weight (isn’t that everyone’s?) 6. To start reading the Harry Potter books 7. To scrapbook more often. I completed 427 scrapbook pages last year, so my goal this year is 100 more. We’ll see if that happens. 8. To journal about the everyday events so that when I get to scrapbooking them, I have it all documented. That is why I bought the book, Log Your Memory. It’s such a wonderful book and just what I was looking for. I love it!! 9.To pray more often & work on my personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Church is something I truly enjoy being a part of, but I just want to put more effort into reading the bible more and praying more. I’ve seen the power of prayer work, so why in the world don’t I do it more??
And for our family… 10. To spend more time doing things together aka quality time. Especially now, with the economy the way it is, there isn't a whole lot of money to do all the thing we used to, but that doesn't mean that we can't enjoy the time we do have together. I'm sure that everyone has seen the Allstate commercial about getting back to basics, and I have to admit, it almost makes me cry each time I watch it. It's so true for this time in our lives and in this time of our country's recession. Maybe we would all be happier if we did just what the commercial says...Get back to basics.
I asked Rod what his resolutions were for this year, and he said "There's no point in making resolutions, I don't follow through on them anyways." Maybe his resolution should be to think more positive...haha...men!
