My daughter a racist?...WTH?

Our youngest daughter, Kathryn, is turning ten on October 28th. She wants a sleep over party. Well, given the turmoil of housework & hair combing I have had in the last two months due to our lovely lice infestation we said no. She was devastated but we talked her into a Laser tag, Mini-golf party at Fun Expeditions in Winchester, VA. She could not wait to print out the invitations and hand them out. After handing out the invitations she told me that she was not going to invite one of her friends. I asked her why and she said that her best friend, Nikki, didn’t like this girl anymore. Well, that was no excuse for me so again I asked why and she told me that this friend had called her a racist because of who we are going to vote for!

Needless to say I am somewhat befuddled because I looked up to this girl’s parents. Her father has served two tours in Iraq and they seem to be very nice people. Jay is livid and wants to know if this took place on school property.

So, I guess I just feel the need to say to all of the Obama supporters that I am voting for John McCain. Not because of his skin color but because of the issues. I am a politically conservative voter. The main issue for me is abortion. I am strongly pro-life and I will not vote for someone who is pro-choice. I do believe that Roe v. Wade can be and will eventually be overturned. I believe in a smaller government, school vouchers, a flat tax, no capital gains or inheritance tax, pro-marriage, pro-guns & that social issues are better handled by the churches and not the government. I am not totally in line with John McCain and I am upset that he was for the bailout but he is the closest match for president that I have. That does not make me or my daughter a racist. I pray that everyone votes for who they line up with best in the issues not because of their race or their eloquence or their age. Please don’t try to bombard me with email telling me who you are voting for because my mind is made up. I also disagree with some on the right who are sending out emails saying that Obama is the antichrist because that is absurd too. One of my best friends is voting for him. I don’t think any less of her. We just agree to disagree. I urge everyone to go online and read the facts about the issues and make up your own mind. Then, go and vote on Nov. 4th!

Lovely gifts from school

Don’t you love the fall? The leaves begin to change. The crisp smell in the air and the kids are back in school. Though, I have found one big draw back to the kids being back in school. The things they end up bringing home from school. Last week I found the fourth case of lice in both of my daughter’s hair. We have treated them three other times. I have done load after load of laundry. I have spent hours after hour nitpicking hair. I hate lice! I told a friend that I believe God gave us lice to teach us patience but I keep praying, “Okay, God, I get it now!” On top of the lice situation I have tried to balance my part-time professional organizing business, my taxi driving to and from dance & school, and helping my mom, who lives with us and has just had a complete right knee replacement. These are the times that if I don’t stop and find the humor in the situation I would have a meltdown. It surprises me that my hair has not turned grey or completely fallen out! As I look back on these last few weeks of our lice battle I thought about something or I should say God gave me an insight. Last Wednesday my pastor was talking about sin and confessing it to God and poof there was the picture in my head of my nitpicking. (Yes, I think in pictures and they are in Technicolor!) Lice & nits are like our sin. If it goes untouched the situation gets worse. Other people get infected or hurt by it. When confessing or nitpicking if you leave even one sin or nit untouched it can very quickly go back into a full blown mess! My pastor’s wife also added that people tend to hide their lice due to shame or embarrassment but everyone can get lice just as everyone sins! People are afraid to tell what they have done for the judgment they might get from others but if we don’t speak out on what we have done and what we are dealing with then others might feel alone. They may think this is only happening to them and no one else. Lice are to kids as fleas are to dogs. It is almost inevitable. And sin is something everyone deals with. My name is Kelly Tidwell and I have lice!