Versailles
Versailles's JournalWe are finally getting children!!
After 2 years of bitter disappointments dealing with adoptions through DSS, we just found out Tuesday that we've been chosen for a family of 3! We were/are over the moon that we finally will be getting our family! We were expecting some more of the drawn out process that seems to pervade the DSS system, but then we found out that they want the children in our home as a foster to adopt situation IMMEDIATELY.
HOLY COW!
From a nice quiet life with my wife, 2 dogs, and cats to an instant full family!
I just need to shout it from the rooftops so thanks for indulging my delirious happiness!
Ted Cruz thought he'd get his circle jerk, now Mulvaney thinks he can do better...
Ted Cruz asked the question and got slammed with an answer he didn't want...think we can make sure my disgusting piece of filth of a congressman Rep. Mick Mulvaney gets the same response to his "Obamacare was signed into law just over four years ago. Are you better off now? Comment yes or no. And tell me why (if you'd like to share)!" status? They keep expecting to get patted on the back and congratulated for their obstruction and fear mongering. Let's make sure he doesn't just hear the echo chamber he expects!
https://www.facebook.com/MulvaneySC5/posts/868520716507268
Today started poorly at work with a heated discussion about striking children...
Got into a heated discussion this morning, first thing, at work about using physical methods of discipline. I was completely outnumbered and now I'm really upset that this many people think that hitting a child for any reason is ok. To me, there is ZERO reason, ever, to strike a child. I don't care if it is a spanking, a whipping, or a slap on the hand to say no. There are more positive ways to discipline and they don't carry the inherent risk of psychological damage or potential for aggression in the child later in life. The fact that people kept trying to convince me otherwise with anecdotal evidence of "Well I/my kids turned out fine." really pisses me off. The hard, scientific, validated, verifiable evidence is clear...striking a child does more harm than good. PERIOD.
Just starts the day off on a miserable tone and makes me antsy for the rest of the day. I like the fact that my boss feels comfortable enough to debate with me and I with him, but this one put me a little over the edge. It should have been clear from the first couple moments of the conversation that this was a particularly touchy topic for me and to let it die, but he kept pushing his arguments. My particular favorite was his use of the biblical argument (knowing that I am agnostic) of "Spare the rod, spoil the child." Within a few sentences he then gave the question of what would I do when my child hits me. My response of "Turn the other cheek and hug them tight." That was the only one that seemed to make him pause for a moment...
I think a lot of my personal views have been strengthened as my wife and I have begun the adoptive process. We are just waiting for a child (or hopefully sibling children) to be matched with us. But in the meantime we read the profiles of why some of these children are in the adoptive system and it is so disheartening. There are kids who have been burned, beaten, molested, etc. - they don't need a parent that will spank them for spilling a glass of milk. That will only scar them further. They need love and respect. They need to know that no matter what mistakes are made, mom and dad will hold them close and love them. They need to know that no matter what actions are levied against you, violence is not the answer. There is already too much of that in the world.
Irony...thou art a heartless witch...
Does anyone else see the irony of Americans screaming their insistence that the 2nd Amendment protects their NATURAL god-given right to own any weapon they so desire to protect themselves from the potential tyranny of the Government while at the same time screaming for action, using the same Government, with countries like Iran who are attempting to own a weapon (i.e. nuclear) to defend themselves from potential tyranny of other governments?
A sad sign of the divisiveness of our times...
My wife and I have been trying to have children for a couple years now to no success, so we decided that rather than put our eggs in a single basket (no pun intended) we'd begin the process of adoption. Despite my frustration with the entire adoption process, including the ridiculous cost involved (this is one reason teachers and low-level government employees need pay raises!), we are excited and ready.
One of the last things we had to do was a DHEC home inspection which was scheduled for today. While in preparation for our inspection I realized that I have all our Obama paraphernalia in obvious sight. Rather than feeling proud at the support we have for our President, I was concerned. You see we live in Wing-Nut Central...also known as South Carolina. My immediate fear was that the DHEC inspector would see the campaign materials and would likely be a rabid teabagging RMoney supporter and fail our inspection out of shear political spitefulness.
Ultimately, I left our stuff up, but worried about it and made sure that everything else was spotless.
It is deeply saddening to me that such a concern should have even entered my mind. I have to even catch myself from making snap judgments of people based on their stated political alliances. I know that I would never allow it to color my work or make me treat someone different, but I can't honestly say the same for others. It scares me that we as a country have become so polarized and the lines between what is clearly right and wrong and fact and fiction have become so political. I just hope that when/if we ever do have a child that we can teach them to be stronger, smarter, and more confident than I.
By the way, we passed the inspection and should be having a sit down meeting with a caseworker soon to start narrowing down what child/children we can bring into our home and be the best parents for!
Our "award winning" beagle! (a little pic heavy!)
My wife entered our furry four-legged loudmouth beagle (Rembrandt, AKA Remy) into a photo contest through one of the radio stations in Columbia and he won! We are excited that he was cute enough to get a few votes and that we can enjoy the prize package (we still aren't sure what we won yet, but we do know that it is worth about $750). The pic my wife submitted is the first one (Super Beagle!). The other pics are just a couple of my favorites of him as a pup and now as a "teen" of almost 2 years old.
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/6557608373/][img]
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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/6557608373/]Super Beagle!![/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/versailles77/]versailles77[/url], on Flickr
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143265/][img]
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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143265/]Rembrandt 1[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/versailles77/]versailles77[/url], on Flickr
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143587/][img]
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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143587/]Rembrand 3[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/versailles77/]versailles77[/url], on Flickr
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/6557600447/][img]
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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/6557600447/]Remy010[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/versailles77/]versailles77[/url], on Flickr
[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143783/][img]
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[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/versailles77/5318143783/]This is Remy's "get out of trouble look"[/url] by [url=http://www.flickr.com/people/versailles77/]versailles77[/url], on Flickr
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Member since: Wed Nov 10, 2004, 02:46 AMNumber of posts: 476
